PR 3562] A\5 Class I ? \\ 3 5 67s Book -A. \ 8 pi Sngltti) &ej>tfttt& ™ JOSEPH ADDISON, Criticism on MILTON's Paradise Lost. From '/The Spectator.' 31 December, 171 1 — 3 May, S JJ 12. CAREFULLY EDITED BY EDWARD ARBER ? Affociate, Rings College, London, F.S.A., F.R.G.S., &°c. LONDON : $ "QUEEN SQUARE, BI.OOMSBURY, W.C. Ent. Stat. Hall.] I Auguft, 1 863. {Ail Rights refer ved wtWgr^h CONTENTS. V John Milton's public felf-dedication to the competi- tion of a great English Epic, ..... 3 Introduction, 5 Bibliography, 8 CRITICISM ON MIL TON'S PARADISE L OST 9 [Note on the early iffues of The Spectator] . ■ . 10 No. 262, Announcement of the Milton papers . . 11 i. a general idea of the graces and imperfections of ' Paradise Lost.' No. 267* The Fable, perfect or imperfect according to the Action, which mufhbe One, Entire, and Great . 15 273, The Characters of Homer, Virgil, and Milton compared. Allegorical characters not proper to an Epic 21 279. The Sentiments muft be both natural and fub- lime. The only piece of pleafantry in Paradife Lq/i 26 285. The Language mould be both perfpicuous and fublime. How a fublime ftyle may be formed . 32 291. Qualities of true and falfe Critics 39 297« The Defects. The Fable is unhappy, its hero unfuccefsful, and it has too many digreffions. The Allegorical perfons in the Characters. The Sentiments fometimes degenerate into puns ; have too frequent allufions to heathen fables as true ; and very frequently difplayunneceffary oftentation of Learning. The Language is often too obfeure, jingling, and technical 43 II. Beauties in the several Books. 303. Book 1 50 309. Book II 59 315. Book III 67 321. Book IV. . 75 327. BookV 84 333. Book VI. . 92 339. Book VII 101 345. Book VIII. 109 351. Book IX. 117 357. BookX. . 126 363. Book XI 136 369. Book XII . 145 John Milton's public self-dedication to the composi- tion OF A GREAT ENGLISH EPIC About Feb. 1642, Milton, set 32, in his third contribution to the Smec- tymnuus controversy, The Reason of Church- government urg'd against Prelatry, to show how little delight he had in that which he believed ' God by his Secretary conscience injcyned' upon him therein; he thus magni- ficently announces his self-dedication to the magnificent purpose of writing a great Epic in his mother tongue. "I should not chuse this manner of writing wherein knowingmy self inferiorto my self, led by the genial power of nature to another task, I have the use, as I may account it, but of my left hand. And though I shall be foolish in saying more to this purpose, yet since it will be such a folly as wisest men going abou i to com- mit, have only confest and so committed, I may trust with more reason, because with more folly to have courteous pardon. For although a Poet soaring in the high region 'of his fancies with his garland and singing robes about him might without apology speak more of himself then I mean to do, yet for me sitting here below in the cool element of prose, a mortall thing among many readers of no Empyreall conceit, to venture and divulge unusual things of my selfe, I shall petition to the gentler sort, it may not be envy to me. I must say therefore that after I had from my first yeeres by the ceaselesse diligence and care of my father, whom God recompence, bin exercis'd to the tongues, and some sciences, as my age would suffer, by sundry masters and teachers both at home and' at the schools, it was found that whether ought was impos'd me by them that had the overlooking, or betak'n to of mine own choise in English, or other tongue, prosing and versing, but chiefly this latter, the stile by certain vital signes it had, was likely to live. But much latelier in the privat Academies of Italy, whither I was favor' d to resort, perceiving that some trifles which I had in memory, compos' d at under twenty or thereabout (for the manner is that every one must give some proof of his wit and reading there) met with acceptance above what was lookt for, and other things which I had shifted in scarsity of books and conveniences to patch up amongst them, were receiv'd with written Enco- miums, which the Italian is not forward to bestow on men of this side the Alps. I began thus farre to assent both to them and divers of my friends here at home, and not lesse to an inward prompting which now grew daily upon me, that by labour and intent study (which I take to be my portion in this life) joyn'd with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to aftertimes, as they should not willingly let it die. These thoughts at once possest me, and these other. That if / were certain to write as men buy Leases, for three lives and downward, there ought no regard be sooner had, then to Gods glory by the honour and instruction of my country. For which cause, and not only for that I knew it would be hard to arrive at the second rank among the Latines, / apply'd my selfe to that resolution which Ariosto follow'd against the perswasions of Bembo, to fix all the industry and art I could unite to the adorning of my native tongue ; not to make verbal curiosities the end, that were a toylsom vanity, but to be , an interpreter and relater of the best and sagest things among mine own Citizens throughout this Hand in the mother dialect. That what the greatest and choycest wits of Athens, Rome, or modern Italy, and those Hebrews ot old did for their country, I in my proportion with this over and above of being a Christian, might doe for mine : not caring to be once nam'd abroad, though perhaps I could attaine to that, but content with these British Hands as my world, whose fortune hath hitherto bin, that if the Athenians, as some say, made their small deeds great and renowned by their eloquent writers, England hath had her noble atchievments made small by the unskilfull handling of monks and mecbanicks. Time servs not now, and perhaps I might seem too profuse to give any certain account of what the mind at home in the spacious circuits of her musing hath liberty to propose to her self, though of highest hope, and hardest attempting, whether that Epick form whereof the two poems of Homer, and those other two of Virgil vnA Tasso are a diffuse, and the book of lob a brief model : or whether the rules of Aristotle herein are strictly to be kept, or nature to be follow'd, which in them that know art, and use judgement is no transgression, but an inrich'mg of art. ^ And lastly what King or Knight before the conquest might be chosen ic whom to lay the pattern of a Chris- 4 tian Heroe. And as Tasso gave to a Prince of Italy his chois whether he would command him to write of Godfreys expedition against the infidels, or Belisarius against the Gothes, or Charlemaiu against the Lombards ; if to the instinct of nature and the imboldning of art ought may be trusted, and that there be nothing advers in our climat, or the fate of this age, it haply would be no rashnesse from an equal diligence and inclination to present the like offer in our own ancient stories. Or whether those Dramatick constitutions, wherein Sophocles and Euripides raigne shall be found more doctrinal and exemplary to a Nation, the Scripture also affords us a divine pastoral Drama in the Song of Salomon consisting of two persons and a double Chorus, as Origen rightly judges. And the Apocalyps of Saint John is the majestick image of a high and stately Tragedy, shutting up and intermingling her solemn Scenes and Acts with a sevenfold Chorus of halleluja's and harping symphonies : and this my opinion the grave autority of Pareus commenting that booke is sufficient to confirm. _ Or if occasion shall lead to imitat those magnifick Odes and Hymns wherein Pindarus and Callimachtis are in most things worthy, some others in their frame judicious, in their matter most an end faulty: But those frequent songs throughout the law and prophets beyond all these, not in their divine argument alone, but in the very critical art of compo- sition may be easily made appear over all kinds of Lyrick poesy, to be incompar- able. These abilities, wheresoever they be found, are the inspired guift of God rarely bestow'd, but yet to some (though most abuse) in every Nation : and are of power beside the office of a pulpit, to inbreed and cherish in a great people the seeds of vertu, and publick civility, to allay the pertubations of the mind, and set the affections in right tune, to celebrate in glorious and lofty Hymns the throne and equipage of Gods Almightinesse, and what he works, and what he suffers to be wrought with high providence in his Church, to sing the victorious agonies of Martyrs and Saints, the deeds and triumphs of just and pious Nations doing valiantly through faith against the enemies of Christ, to deplore the general relapses of Kingdoms and States from justice and Gods true worship. Lastly, whatsoever in religion is holy and sublime, in vertu aimable, or grave, whatsoever hath passion or admiration in all the changes of that which is call'd fortune from without, or the wily suttleties and refluxes of mans thoughts from within, all these things with a solid and treat- able smoothnesse to paint out and describe. Teaching over the whole book of sanctity and vertu through all the instances of example with such delight to those especially of soft and delicious temper who will not so much as look upon Truth herselfe, unlesse they see her elegantly drest, that whereas the paths of honesty and good life appear now rugged and difficult, though they be indeed easy and pleasant, they would then appeare to all men both easy and pleasant though they were rugged and difficult indeed. . . . The thing which I had to say, and those intentions which have liv'd within me ever since I could conceiv my self any thing worth to my Countrie, I return to crave excuse that urgent reason hath pluckt from me by an abortive and foredated dis- covery. And the accomplishment of them lies not but in a power above mans to promise ; but that none hath by more studious ways endeavour'd, and with more unwearied spirit that none shall, that I dare almost averre of my self, as farre as life and free leasure will extend, and that the Land had onceinfran- chis'd her self from this impertinent yoke of prelatry, under whose inquisi- torious and tyrannical duncery no free and splendid wit can flourish. Neither doe I think it shame to covnant with any knowing reader, that for some few yeers yet I may go on trust with him toward the payment of what I am now indebted, as being a work not to be rays'd from the heat of youth, or the vapours of wine, like that which flows at wast from the pen of some vulgar Amorist, or the trencher fury of a riming parasite, not to be obtain' d by the invocation of Dame Memory and her Siren daughters, but by de- vout prayer to that eternall Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his Seraphim with the hallow'd fire of his Altar to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases : to this must be added in- dustrious and select reading, steddy observation, insight into all seemly and generous arts and affaires, till which in some measure be compast, at mine own peril and cost I refuse not to sustain this expectation from as many as are not loath to hazard so much credulity upon the best pledges that I can give them.—-//. 37—41. Ed. 1641. Criticism on ' Paradise Lost/ INTR OD UCTION. j|N the ordinary courfe of writing for The Spectator \ Addifon determined upon a fum- mary expofition otParadife Loft; intending in fome four or half a dozen papers, ' to give a general Idea of its Graces and Im- perfection s.' Though his fubjec~l was a recent mafter- work, it was then comparatively unknown and certainly inadequately appreciated. Addifon's purpofe was to make Milton's great Epic popular. His fenfe of the indifference and prejudices to be overcome, may be gathered, not only from his, at firft, guarded and argued praife of Milton; his large comparative criticifm of Homer and Virgil, as if to make Milton the more acceptable ; but alfo from his announcement, fee page 25 : where, under the cover of a Commentary on the great and acceptedly-great name of Ariftotle, he en- deavours to get a hearing for the unknown Milton. In accordance with this intention, at the clofe of his fixth paper,f Addifon announces the termination of the criticifm on the following Saturday. Theeffays, however, had met with an unexpected fuccefs. So that their author — the fubje6l growing eafily under his hand — was in- duced, inftead of offering famples of the Beauties of the poem, in one effay, to give a feparate paper to thofe in each of the twelve books of Paradife Loft. His caution however prevented him even then, from announcing his frefh purpofe, until he was well on in his work; entering upon the confideration of the Fourth Book.§ Thefe conditions of production not only mow the tentativenefs of the criticifm, but account in part for the treatment of the fubject. In particular, for the repetition in expanded form in its later effays, of arguments, opinions, &c, epitomized in the earlier + P. 49- § P- 73- 6 Introduftion. ones. As, for inftance ; the impropriety of Allegory in Epic poetry. Before the appearance of the lad of the Milton papers, Volume IV. of the fecond (firft collected) edition of The Spcclator, which included the firft ten effays, had probably been delivered to its fubferibers. The text of this edition fhowsconfiderable additions and corrections. So that Addifon was reviling the earlier, poffibly before he had written the later of thefe papers. The eight laft papers formed part of Volume V. of the fecond edition, which was publifhed in the following year, 17 13. Subfequently — in the Author's lifetime — at lead one important addition was made to the textf; but the fcarcity of early editions of The Spettatorhas prevented any further collation. In this way the growing text grew into final form : that in which it has come down to us. In the prefent work, the text is that of the original iffue, in folio. The variations and additions of the fecond edition, in Svo, are inferted between [ ]. Words in the firft, omitted in the fecond edition are diftin- guithed by having * affixed to them. Subfequent addi- tions are inferted between { }; which alfo contain the Englifh transitions of the mottoes. Thefe have been verified with thofe in the earlieft edition in which I have found them, that of 1744. The reader can there- fore watch not only the expanfion of the criticifm, but Addifon's method of correcting his work. Thefe papers do not embody the writer's entire mind on the fubjecl. Limited as he was in time, to a week ; in fpace, to the three or four columns of the Saturday folio : he was ftill more limited by the capacity, tafte, and patience of his readers. Addifon fhows not a little art in the way in which, meting out his thought with the meafure of his readers' minds, he endeavours rather to awaken them from indifference than to exprefs his complete obfervations. The whole four months' leffon + PP- 54, 55- Introduction. 7 incriticifm muflbe apprehended, as much with reference to thofe he was teaching to difcriminate and appreciate, as to the fettered expreffion of the critic's own opinion. The accepted flandards in Epic poetry were Homer and Virgil. All that Addifon tries to do is to per- fuade his countrymen to put Milton by their fide. Paganifm could not furnifh out a real Action for a Fable greater than that of the Iliad or ALneid, and therefore an Heathen could not form a higher Notion of a Poem than one of that kind, which they call an Heroic. Whether Miltorfs is not of a fublimer Nature I will not prefume to determine, it is fufncient that I mew there is in Paradife Loft all the Greatnefs of Plan, Regularity of Defign, and mafterly Beauties which we difcover in Homer and Virgil, f Poffibly it is owing to the then abfence of an equal acknowledgment in England of Dante, Addifon's con- fequent limitation of purpofe, and the conditions of the production of this criticifm, that there is no recogni- tion therein of the great Italian Epic poet. Thefe papers conftitute a Primer to Paradife Loft. Moil fkilfully conftructed both to intereft and inftrucl:, but Hill a Primer. As the excellent fetting may the better difplay the gem of incalculable value : fo may Addifon's thought help us to underftand Milton's 6 greatnefs of Soul, which furniihed him with fuch glorious Conceptions.' Let us not flop at the Primer, but pafs on to a perfonal apprehenfion of the great Englifh Epic ; in the perfuafion, that in no fpeech under heaven, is there a poem of more Sublimity, Delight, and Inftruction than that which Milton was maturing for a quarter of a century : and that there is nothing human more wonderful and at the fame time more true, than thofe vifions of 'the whole System of the intellectual World, the Chaos and the Creation ; Heaven, Earth, and Hell ' over which — in the deep darknefs of his blindnefs — Milton's fpirit fo long brooded, and which at length he revealed to Earth in his ailoniihing Poem. + P-4S- BIBLIOGRAPHY. Addison's criticism on milton's * paradise lost.* * Editions not seen. The various editions of The Spectator are omitted, for want of space, because the scarcity of its early issues, prevents an exact list being given. See note on the three earliest issues, at p. 10. (a) Issues in tfce author's lifetime. I. As a separate publication. I719. London. Notes on the Twelve Books of Paradise Lost, Col- 1 vol. i2mo. lected from the Spectator. Written by Mr. Addison. (b) Issues since ilje author's Ucatf). I. As a sepa ra te publica Hon . English Reprints: see title at p. z. 1 1 . With other works. Addison's works [Ed : with Life by T. Tickell.] The criticism occupies iii. 268-382. Baskeruille edition. Addison's works. The criticism occupies iii. 246-355. A familiar Exposition of the Poetical Works of Milton. To which is prefixed Mr. Addison's Criticism on ' Paradise Lost.' With a preface by the Rev. Mr. Dodd. The criticism occupies pp. 1 — 144. *I790. Edinburgh. Papers in the Tatler, Spectator, Guardian, and Free- 4 vols. 8vo. holder, together with his Treatise on the Christian Re- ligion, &c. Watt. z8oi. London. The Poetical works of John Milton. Ed. by Rev. 6 vols. 8vo. H.J. Todd, M.A. The criticism occupies i. 24-194. 1804. London. Selections from the Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, and 3 vols. 8vo. Freeholder. With a preliminary Essay by Anna L/EtitiaBarbauld. The criticism occupies ii.38 — 170. 1804. London. Addison's works. Collected by Mr. Tickell. The 6 vols. 8vo. criticism occupies ii. 83-221. z8n. London. Addison's works. With notes by Bp. HuRD. The 6 vols. 8vo. criticism occupies iv. 78-20S. 1819. London. Second edition of No. 6. The criticism occupies 1. 7 vols. 8vo. 1-153. Z826. London. Third edition of No. 6. The criticism, without quota- 6 vols. 8vo. tions, occupies ii. vii.-xcviii. Z849. London. A new edition of No. 7. The criticism occupies 2 vols. 8vo. ii. 169 — 184. 1856. New York. Addison's works. Ed. by G.W. Greene. The criticism 6 vols. 8vo. occupies vi. 24-168. 1856. London. Bohris British Classics. Addison's works. A new 6 vols. 8vo. edition of No. 9. The criticism occupies iii. 170-283. 1 Aug. 1868. London. 1 vol. 8vo. 1721. 1761. London. 4 vols. 4to. Birmingham. Z762. 4 vols. 4to. London, z vol. 8vo. Joseph Addison CRITICISM ON Milton's PARADISE LOST. From 'The Spectator.' Three Poets, in three dijlant Ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The Firfl in loftinejs of thought Surpafs'd, The Next in Majejly ; in both the Laft. The force of Nature cou'd no farther goe : To make a Third fhejoynd the former two, Dryden. Under Milton's pidlure in Tonfon's folio (the fourth) edition of Paradife Loji^ 6°c. 1688. NOTE ON THE EARLY ISSUES OF ' THE SPECTATOR.' f 1711. No. i of The Spectator appears 'To be Continued every Day.' Mar,, i. It is a foolscap folio, printed in two columns on each of its two pages ; advertisements occupying the greater part of the fourth column. The serial continues for ninety-three weeks. June i. No. 80 appears. _; ( Tune 2. No. 81 appears. •-« Vbept. 13. No. 169 appears. Sept. 14. No. 170 appears. Nov. 20. No. 227 has the following announcement. " There is now Printing by Subscription two Volumes of the SPECTATORS 2ntJ l£tt. on a large character in Octavo ; the Price of the two Vols, well Bound and Gilt two Guineas. Those who are inclined to Subscribe, are desired to make their first Payments to Jacob Tonson, Book- seller in the Strand ; the Books being so near finished, that they will be ready for the Subscribers ator before Christmas next." yDec. 18. No. 251 appears. ' 19. No. 252 appears. 31. No. 262. The papers on Milton are announced. 1712. Jan. $. No. 267. The first paper on Paradise Lost appears. 8. No. 269 has this announcement. "The First and Second Volumes of the Spectator in 8vo are now ready to be de- 2n& £&. livered to the Subscribers, by J. Tonson at Shakespear's Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand." Jan. 12. No. 273. The second Milton paper appears. 18. No. 278 advertises "This Day is Published, A very neat Pocket Edition of the Spectator, in 2 Vols. 12 . Printed for 3*11 i£H. Sam. Buckley at the Dolphin in Little-Britain, and J. Tonson at Shakespear's Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand." ^Jan. 19 — Mar. 8. Eight more papers on Paradise Lost appear. f There is no announcement in the Original issue, when Vols. Ill and IV were ready for delivery to the subscribers of the first 2titJ !£&• two, of which they were issued, with an Index, as a com- pletion. Vol. Ill contains a List of the subscribers to the second edition of these earlier numbers of The Spectator. The list contains 402 names, including a large proportion of aristocratic titles ; and amongother the names of Sir Isaac Newton, SirRichard April? Blackmore, &c. The probability is that as the subscribers would naturally complete their sets, the reprinting would go ona little in arrear of the Original issue, and that these volumes were delivered some time in April. The 4 volumes apparently realized ^1,608. Aug. f. 10. Annce, c. 18 comes into force. It imposes a Stamp duty of an Halfpenny upon every Pamphlet or Paper contained in Half a Sheet, and One Shilling upon every printed advertise- ment. — Statutes \x. 617. This stamp is still seen on many copies, Nov.it. No. $33 advertises "This Day is Publish'd, A very neat 3r& i£U. Pocket edition of the 3d and 4th Volumes of the Spectator in I2 0, To which is added a compleat Index to the whole 4 Volumes. &c." Dec. 6. No £$<;, Steele announcing, in his own name, the conclusion of the series, states, "I have nothing more to add, but having swelled this Work to $$$ Papers, they will be disposed into 2ntJ lEtt. seven Volumes, four of which are already publish'd, and the three others in the Press. It will not be demanded of me why I now leave off, tho' I must own my self obliged to give an Account to the Town of my Time hereafter, since I retire when their Par- tiality to me is so great, that an Edition of the former Volumes of Spectators of above Nine thousand each Book is already sold off, and the Tax on each half Sheet has brought into the Stamp- Office one Week with another above 20/. a Week arising from this single Paper, notwithstanding it at first reduced it to less than half the number that was usually Printed before this Tax was V laid." He is evidently referring to the original daily issues. Two years later, The Spectator was revived for about six months. VIII. 1714. June 18 — Dec, 20. Nos 5^6-635 are published. Six hundred and thirty-five papers constitute 'The Spectator.' U Numb. CCLXIL The SPECTATOR. Nulla venenato Littera miffa Joco e/l. Ov. {Satirical Reflexions I avoid. ' Another translation. My paper flows from no fatiric vein. Contains no poifon 9 and conveys no pain. Adapted} Monday, December 31. 1 7 1 1. Think my felf highly obliged to the Publick for their kind Acceptance of a Paper which vifits them every Morning, and has in it none of thofe Seafonings thatrecommend fo many of the Writings which are in vogue among us. As, on the one Side, my Paper has not in it a fmgle Word of News, a Reflection in Politicks, nor a Stroke of Party; fo, on the other, there are no fafhionable Touches of Infidelity, no obfcene Ideas, no Satyrs upon Priefthood, Marriage, and the like popular Topicks of Ridicule; no private Scandal, nor any thing that may tend to the Defamation of particular Perfons, Families, or Societies. There is not one of thefe abovementioned Sub- jects that would not fell a very indifferent Paper, could I think of gratifying the Publick by fuch mean and bafe Methods : But notwithftanding I have re- jected every thing that favours of Party, every thing that is loofe and immoral, and every thing that might create Uneafmefs in the Minds of particular Perfons, I find that the Demand for my Papers has encreafed every Month fmce their firft Appearance in the World. This does not perhaps reflect fo much Honour upon my felf, as on my Readers, who give a much greater Attention, to Difcourfes of Virtue and Morality, than ever I expected, or indeed could hope. 12 THE SPECTATOR EXPRESSES HIS SATISFACTION When I broke loofe from that great Body of Writers who have employed their Wit and Parts in propagating Vice and Irreligion, I did not queftionbut I mould be treated as an odd kind of Fellow that had a Mind to appear fmgular in my Way of Writing : But the general Reception I have found, convinces me that the World is not fo corrupt as we are apt to imagine ; and that if thofe Men of Parts who have been employed in viciating the Age had endeavoured to rectify and amend it, they needed not to have facrificed their good Senfe and Virtue to their Fame and Reputation. No Man is fo funk in Vice and Ignorance, but there are flill fome hidden Seeds of Goodnefs and Know- ledge in him ; which give him a Relifh of fuch Reflec- tions and Speculations as have an Aptnefs in* them* to improve the Mind and to make the Heart better. I have fhewn in a former Paper, with how much Care I have avoided all fuch Thoughts as are loofe, obfcene, or immoral ; and I believe my Reader would Hill think the better of me, if he knew the Pains I am at in qualifying what I write after fuch a Manner, that nothing may be interpreted as aimed at private Per- fons. For this Reafon when I draw any faulty Character, I confider all thofe Perfons to whom the Malice of the World may poffibly apply it, and take care to dam it with fuch particular Circumftances as may prevent all fuch ill-natured Applications. If I write any thing on a black Man, I run over in my Mind all the eminent Perfons in the Nation who are of that Completion : When I place an imaginary Name at- the Head of a Character, I examine every Syllable and Letter of it, that it may not bear any Refemblance to one that is real. I know very well the Value which every Man fets upon his Reputation, and how painful it is to be expofed to the Mirth and Derifion of the Publick, and fhould therefore fcorn to divert my Reader at the Expence of any private Man. As I have been thus tender of every particular Perfon's Reputation, fo I have taken more than ordi- AT THE RECEPTION OF HIS PAPERS. 13 nary Care not to give Offence to thofe who appear in the higher Figures of Life, I would not make my felf merry even with a Piece of Pafleboard that is invefted with a publick Character; for which Reafon I have never glanced upon the late defigned Proceffion of his Holinefs and his Attendants, notwithflanding it might have afforded Matter to many ludicrous Speculations. Among thofe Advantages which the Publick may reap from this Paper, it is not the leaft, that it draws v Mens Minds off from the Bittern efs of Party, and furnifhes them with Subjects of Difcourfe that may be treated without Warmth or Paffion. This is faid to have been the firft Defign of thofe Gentlemen who fet on Foot the Royal Society ; and had then a very good Effect, as it turned many of the greateft Genius's of that Age to the Difquifitions of natural Knowledge, who, if they had engaged in Politicks with the fame Parts and Application, might have fet their Country in a Flame. The Air-Pump, the Barometer, the Quadrant, and the like Inventions, were thrown out to thofe bufy Spirits, as Tubs and Barrels are to a Whale, that he may let the Ship fail on without Difturbance, while he diverts himfelf with thofe innocent Amufements. I have been fo very fcrupulous in this Particular of not hurting any Man's Reputation, that I have for- born mentioning even fuch Authors as I could not name with Honour. This I muft confefs to have been a Piece of very great Self-denial : For as the Publick relifhes nothing better than the Ridicule which turns upon a Writer of any Eminence, fo there is nothing which a Man that has but a very ordinary Talent in Ridicule may execute with greater Eafe. One might raife Laughter for a Quarter of a Year together upon the Works of a Perfon who has publifhed but a very few Volumes. For which Reafons I am aftonifhed, that thofe who have appeared againfl this Paper have made fo very little of it. The Criticifms which I have hitherto publifhed, have been made with an Intention rather tc difcover Beauties and Excellencies in the 14 ANNOUNCEMENT OF PAPERS ON ' PARADISE LOST. Writers of my own Time, than to publifh any of their Faults and Imperfections. In the meanwhile I mould take it for a very great Favour from fome of my under- hand Detractors, if they would break all Meafures with me fo far, as to give me a Pretence for examin- ing their Performances with an impartial Eye : Nor mail I look upon it as any Breach of Charity to criticife the Author, fo long as I keep clear Of the Perfon. In the mean while, till I am provoked to fuch Hoftilities, I fhall from Time to Time endeavour to do Juftice to thofe who have diftinguifhed themfelves in the politer Parts of Learning, and to point out fuch Beauties in their Works as may have efcaped the Ob- fervation of others. As the firft Place among our EngliJJi Poets is due to Milt 011 , and as I have drawn more Quotations out of him than from any other, I fhall enter into a regular Criticifm upon his Paradife lofl, which I fhall publifh every Saturday till I have given my Thoughts upon that Poem. I fhall not however prefume to impofe upon others my own particular Judgment on this Author, but only deliver it as my private Opinion. Criticifm is of a very large Extent, and every particular Mailer in this Art has his favourite Paffages in an Author, which do not equally flrike the beft Judges. It will be fufficient for me if I difcover many Beauties or Imperfections which others have not attended to, and I mould be very glad to fee any of our eminent Writers publifh their Difcoveries on the fame Subject. In fhort, I would always be underftood to write my Papers of Criticifm in the Spirit which Horace has expreffed in thofe two famous Lines, Si quid novifti reffius iflis Candidus imperti, fi non his utere mecum. If you have made any better Remarks of your own, communicate them with Candour ; if not, make ufe of thefe I prefent you with. Numb. CCLXVII. The SPECTATOR. Cedite Romani Script ores, cedite Graii. Propert. { Give place, ye Roman, and ye Grecian Wits. } Saturday \ January ', 5. 1712. HERE is nothing in Nature fo irkfom[e] as general Difcourfes, efpecially when they turn chiefly upon Words. For this Reafon I Ihall wave the Difcufiion of that Point which was flarted fome Years fmce, Whether Milton's Paradife Loft may be called an Heroick Poem ? Thofe who will not give it that Title, may call it (if they pleafe) a -Divine Poem. It will be fufficient to its Perfection, if it has in it all the Beau- ties of the higheft kind of Poetry ; and as for thofe who fay [alledge] it is not an Heroick Poem, they advance no more to the Diminution of it, than if they mould fay Adam is not A?7teas, nor Eve Helen. I fhall therefore examine it by the Rules of Epic Poetry, and fee whether it falls fhort of the Iliad or ALneid, in the Beauties which are effential to that kind of Writing. The firft Thing to be confidered in an Epic Poem, is the Fable, which is perfect or imperfect:, according as the Action which it relates is more or lefs fo. This Action mould have three Qualifications in it. Firft, It mould be but one Action. Secondly, It mould be an entire Action; and Thirdly, It mould be a great Action. To con- fider the Action of the Iliad, ALneid, and Paradife Loft in thefe three feveral Lights. Homer to pre- ferve the Unity of his Action haftens into the midft of things, as Horace has obferved : Had he gone up 1 6 THE FABLE PERFECT OR IMPERFECT AS IS THE ACTION. to ledds Egg, or begun much later, even at the Rape of Helen, or the Inverting of Troy, it is manifeil that the Story of the Poem would have been a Series of feveral Actions. He therefore opens his Poem with the Difcord of his Princes, and with great Art interweaves in the feveral fucceeding parts of it, an account of every thing [material] which relates to the Story [them], and had paffed before that fatal Diffenfion. After the fame manner /Eneas makes his firft appearance in the Tyrrhene Seas, and within fight of Italy, becaufe the Action propofed to be celebrated was that of his Settling himfelf in latium. But becaufe it was necef- fary for the Reader to know what had happened to him in the taking of Troy, and in the preceding parts of his Voyage, Virgil makes his Hero relate it by way of Epifode in the fecond and third Books of the sEneid. The Contents of both which Books come be- fore thofe of the firft Book in the Thread of the Story, tho' for preferving of this Unity of Action, they follow them in the Difpofition of the Poem. Milton, in Imita- tion of thefe two great Poets, opens his Paradife Lo/t with an Infernal Council plotting the Fall of Man, which is the Action he propofed to celebrate ; and as for thofe great Actions, which preceded in point oi time, the Battel of the Angels, and the Creation oi the World, (which would have entirely deftroyed the Unity of his Principal Action, had he related them in the fame Order that they happened) he cafl them into the fifth, fixth and feventh Books, by way of Epifode to this noble Poem. Ariftotle himfelf allows, that Homer has nothing to boaft of as to the Unity of his Fable, tho' at the fame time that great Critick and Philofopher endeavours to palliate this Imperfection in the Greek Poet, b) imputing it in fome Meafure to the very Nature of an Epic Poem. Some have been of Opinion, that the sEneid labours alfo in this particular, and has Epifodes which may be looked upon as Excrefcencies rathei than as Parts of the Action. On the contrary, th< THE ACTION MUST BE ONE, ENTIRE, AND GREAT. 1 7 Poem which we have now under our Confideration, hath no other Epifodes than fuch as naturally arife from the Subject, and yet is filled with fuch a multi- tude of aflonifhing Circumflances [Incidents], that it gives us at the fame time a Pleafure of the greatefl Variety, and of the greatefl Simplicity, {uniform in its Nature, though diverfified in the Execution.} I mull obferve alfo, that as Virgil in the Poem which was defigned to celebrate the Original of the Roman Empire, has defcribed the Birth of its great Rival, the Carthaginian Commonwealth. Milton with the like Art in his Poem on the Fall of Man, has related the Fall of thofe Angels who are his profeffed Enemies. Befides the many other Beauties in fuch an Epifode, it's running Parallel with the great Action of the Poem, hin- ders it from breaking the Unity fo much as another Epi- fode would have done, that had not fo great an Affinity with the principal Subject. In fhort, this is the fame kind of Beauty which the Criticks admire in the Spanijh Fryar, or the Double Difcovery, where the two different Plots look like Counterparts and Copies of one another. The fecond Qualification required in the Action of an Epic Poem is, that it mould be an entire Action : An Action is entire when it is compleat in all its Parts ; or as Arijlotle defcribes it, when it confifls of a Beginning, a Middle, and an End. Nothing mould go before it, be intermixed with it, or follow after it, that is not related to it. As on the contrary, no fmgle Step mould be omitted in that jufl and regular Progrefs [Procefs] which it mufl be fup- pofed to take from its Original to its Confummation. Thus we fee the Anger of Achilles in its Birth, its Continuance and Effects; and jEneafs Settlement in Italy, carried on through all the Oppofitions in his way to it both by Sea and Land. The Action in Milton excels (I think) both the former in this particular; we fee it contrived in Hell, exe- cuted upon Earth, and punifhed by Heaven. The parts of it are told in the mofl diflinct manner, B 1 8 THE ACTION MUST NOT ONLY BE GREAT and grow out of one another in the mofl natural Method. The third Qualification of an Epic Poem is its Greatnefs. The Anger of Achilles was of fuch Con- fequence, that it embroiled the Kings of Greece^ def- troy'd the Heroes of Troy, and engaged all the Gods in Factions. JELncas's Settlement in Italy produced the Ccrfars, and gave Birth to the Roman Empire. Milton's Subject was Hill greater than either of the former ; it does not determine the Fate of fingle Perfons or Nations, but of a whole Species. The united Powers of Hell are joyned together for the Deflruction of Mankind, which they effected in part, and would have completed, had not Omnipotence it felf interpofed. The principal Actors are Man in his greateft Perfection, and Woman in her highefl Beauty. Their Enemies are the fallen Angels : The Meffiah their Friend, and the Almighty their Protector. In fhort, every thing that is great in the whole Circle of Being, whether within the Verge of Nature, or out of it, has a proper Part afligned it in this noble Poem. In Poetry, as in Architecture, not only the whole, but the principal Members, and every part of them, fhould be Great. I will not prefume to fay, that the Book of Games in the /Encid, or that in the Iliad, are not of this nature, nor to reprehend VirgiPs Simile of a Top, and many other of the fame nature in the Iliad, as liable to any Cenfure in this Particular ; but I think we may fay, without offence to [derogating from] thofe wonderful Performances, that there is an unqueflionable Magnificence in every Part of Para- dife Loft, and indeed a much greater than could have been formed upon any Pagan Syftem. But Ariftotle, by the Greatnefs of the Action, does not only mean that it mould be great in its Nature, but alfo in its Duration, or in other Words, that it fhould have a due length in it, as well as what we properly call Greatnefs. The jult Meafure of this kind of Magnitude, he explains by the following IN ITS NATURE, BUT IN ITS DURATION. 19 Similitude. An Animal, no bigger than a Mite, can- not appear perfect to the Eye, becaufe the Sight takes it in at once, and has only a confufed Idea of the whole, and not a diflinct Idea of all its Parts ; If on the contrary you mould fuppofe an Animal of ten thoufand Furlongs in length, the Eye would be fo filled with a fmgle Part of it, that it could not give the Mind an Idea of the whole. What thefe Animals are to the Eye, a very fhort or a very long Action would be to the Memory. The firft would be, as it were, loft and fwallowed up by it, and the other difficult to be contained in it. Homer and Virgil have fhewn their principal Art in this Particular; the Action of the Iliad, and that of the sEneid, were in themfelves exceeding fhort, but are fo beautifully extended and diveriified by the Intervention [Invention] of Efiifodes, and the Machinery of Gods, with the like Poetical Orna- ments, that they make up an agreeable Story fufficient to employ the Memory without overcharging it. Mil- ton's Action is enriched with fuch a variety of Cir- cumflances, that I have taken as much Pleafure in reading the Contents of his Books, as in the belt invented Story I ever met with. It is poffible, that the Traditions on which the Iliad and ALneid were built, had more Circumflances in them than the Hiflory of the Fall of Man, as it is related in Scrip- ture. Befides it was eafier for Homer and Virgil to dafh the Truth with Fiction, as they were in no danger of offending the Religion of their Country by it. But as for Milton, he had not only a very few Circumflances upon which to raife his Poem, but was alfo obliged to proceed with the greatefl Caution in every thing that he added out of his own Invention. And, indeed, notwithftanding all the Reflraints he was under, he has filled his Story with fo many furprifing Incidents, which bear fo clofe an Analogy with what is delivered in Holy Writ, that it is capable of pleafing the mofl delicate Reader, without giving Ofience to the mofl fcrupulous. 20 THE ACTION NOT LIMITED TO ANY PARTICULAR TIME. Hints in the Iliad and ^neid the Space of Time which is taken up by the Adieu of each of tnofe Poems ; but as a great Part of Milton's Story was tranfacled in Regions that lie out of the reach of thl Sun and the Sphere of Day, it is impoffible to grat fie the Reader with fuch a Calculation, which indeed would be more curious than infinitive; none of the Cn ticks, either Ancient or Modern, having laid down Rules to circumfcr.be the Aftion of an Epic Poem with any determined number of Years, Days, or Hours, f This pieee_ of Criticifm on MiltonV Paradife T, a JhaU be earned on in following [Saturdays] Papers. t Seep. 151. Numb. CCLXXIIL The SPECTATOR. Not audi funt tibi Mores. Hor, {Note well the Manners.} Saturday, January 12. 1712. |AVING examined the Action of Paradife Loft, let us in the next place confider the Actors. Thefe are what Ariftotle means by [This is Ariftotle 's Method of confidering ; nrfl] the Fable, and [fecondly] the Man- ners, or, as we generally call them in Englifh, the Fable and the Characters. Homer has excelled all the Heroic Poets that evei wrote, in the multitude and variety of his Characters. Every God that is admitted into his Poem, acts a Part which would have been fuitable to no other Deity. His Princes are as much diftinguifhed by their Manners as by their Dominions ; and even thofe among them, whofe Characters feem wholly made up of Courage, differ from one another as to the particu- lar kinds of Courage in which they excell. In fhort, there is fcarce a Speech or Action in the Iliad, which the Reader may not afcribe to the Perfon that fpeaks or acts, without feeing his Name at the Head of it. Homer does not only out-fhine all other Poets in the Variety, but alfo in the Novelty of his Characters. He has introduced among his Grcecian Princes a Per- fon, who had lived thrice the Age of Man, and con- verfed with Thefeus, Hercules, Polyphemus, and the firft Race of Heroes. His principal Actor is the Off-fpring [Son] of a Goddefs, not to mention the Son [Off- fpring] of Aurora [other Deities], who has [have] like- wife a Place in his Poem, and the venerable Trojan Prince, who was the Father of fo many Kings and Heroes. There is jn thefe feveral Characters of Homer, 22 CHARACTERS OF HOMER, VIRGIL, AND MILTON COMPARED. a certain Dignity as well as Novelty, which adapts them in a more peculiar manner to the Nature of an Heroic Poem. Tho', at the fame time, to give them the greater variety, he has defcribed a Vidcan, that is, a Buffoon among his Gods, and a Therfites among his Mortals. Virgil falls infinitely fhort of Homer in the Cha- racters of his Poem, both as to their Variety and Novelty. jEneas is indeed a perfect Character, but as for Achates , tho* he is filled the Hero's Friend, he does nothing in- the whole Poem which may deferve that Title. Gyas, Mnejleus, Serge/las, and Cloanthns, are all of them Men of the fame Stamp and Character, Fortcmque Gyaii^forteinque Cloanthum [Virg.] There are indeed feveral very natural Incidents in the Part of Afcanins ; as that of Dido cannot be fuffi- ciently admired. I do not fee any thing new or particular in Turnus. Pallas and Evander are [remote] Copies of Heclor and Priam, as Lanfus and Mezentins are almoft Parallels to Pallas and Evander. The Characters of Nifus and Eurialus are beautiful, but common. [We mult not forget the Parts of Sinon, Camilla, and fome few others, which are beautiful Improvements on the Greek Poet.] In fhort, there is neither that Variety nor Novelty in the Perfons of the it maybe true in other Occafions, does not hold in this ; becaufe in the prefent Cafe, though the Perfons who fall into Misfortune are of the moft perfect and con- fummate Virtue, it is not to be confidered as what may poffibly be, but what actually is our own Cafe; fince we are embark'd with them on the fame Bottom, and muft be Partakers of their Happinefs or Mifery. In this, and fome other very few Inftances, Ariflottis Rules for Epic Poetry (which he had drawn from his Re- flections upon Homer) cannot be fuppofed to quadrate exactly with the Heroic Poems which have been made fince his Time; as it is plain his Rules would have been Hill more perfect, cou'd he have perufed the ^Efieid which was made fome hundred Years after his Death. In my next IJliall go through other parts of Milt on V Poem ; and hope that what I Jhall there advaiice, as well as what I have already written, will not only ferve as a Comment upon Milton, but upon Ariflotle. Numb. CCLXXIX. The SPECTATOR. Redder perfenccfc it convcnicntia cuique. Hor {He knows what bejl hefts each Charade,:} Saturday y January 19. 1712. IE have already taken a general Survey of the Fable and Characters in Milton's Paradtfe Lqft : The Parts which remain to be coniidcr'd, according to Arifot/e's Method, are the Sentiments and the Lan- guage Before I enter upon the firft of thefe, I mufl adverse my Reader, that it is my Defign as foon as I have finimed my general Refledions on thefe four feveral Heads, to give particular Inftances out of the Poem which is now before us of Beauties and Im- pcrfecTions which may be obferved under each of them asalfo of fuch other Particulars as may not properly* fall under any of them. This I thought fit to premife! that the Reader may not judge too haflil/ of this Piece of Cnticifm or look upon it as Imperfect, before he has feen the whole Extent of it The Sentiments in an [all] Epic Poem are the Thoughts and Behaviour which the Author afcribes to the Perfons whom he introduces, and are jufl when they are conformable to the Characters of the feveral Perfons. The Sentiments have likewife a relation to T/ungs as well as Perfons, and are then perfeft when they are fuch as are adapted to the SubjecT. If in either of thefe Cafes the Poet argues, or explains, magnifies or dimimfhes, raifes Love or Hatred, Pity or Terror or any other Pafiion, we ought to confider whether .r''T n " e makes ufe of ^e proper for thefe LtJieirJ Ends. Homer is cenfured by the Criticks for THE SENTIMENTS MUST BE BOTH NATURAL AND SUBLIME. 2? his Defe6l as to this Particular in feveral parts of the Iliad and Odyffey, tho' at the fame time thofe who have treated this great Poet with Candour, have attri- buted this Defect to the Times in which he lived. It was the fault of the Age, and not of Homer, if there wants that Delicacy in fome of his Sentiments, which appears in the Works of Men of a much inferior Genius. Befides, if there are Blemifhes in any parti- cular Thoughts, there is an infinite Beauty in the greateft part of them. In fhort,- if there are many Poets who wou'd not have fallen into the mea[n]nefs of fome of his Sentiments, there are none who cou'd have rife[n] up to the Greatnefs of others. Virgil has ex- celled all others in the Propriety of his Sentiments. Milton mines likewife very much in this Particular: Nor muft we omit one Confideration which adds to his Honour and Reputation. Homer and Virgil intro- duced Perfons whofe Characters are commonly known among Men, and fuch as are to be met with either in Hiftory, or in ordinary Converfation. Milfoil's Cha- racters, mofl of them, lie out of Nature, and were to be formed purely by his own Invention. It fhews a greater Genius in Shakefpear to have drawn his Caly- ba?i, than his Hotfpur or Julius Ccefar : The one was to be fupplied out of his own Imagination, whereas the other might have been formed upon Tradition, Hiftory and Obfervation. It was much eafier there- fore for Homer to find proper Sentiments for an Af- fembly of Grecian Generals, than for Milton to di- verfifie his Infernal Council with proper Characters, and infpire them with a variety of Sentiments. The Loves of Dido and ALneas are only Copies of what has paffed between other Perfons. Adam and Eve, before the Fall, are a different Species from that of Mankind, who are defcended from them ; and none but a Poet of the mofl unbounded Invention, and the mofl exquifite Judgment, cou'd have filled their Con- verfation and Behaviour with fuch Beautiful Circum- fiances during their State of Innocence. 23 AFFECTED AND UNNATURAL, MEAN AND JSljH 'JL fuffic , ient for a n Epic Poem to be filled ,r fuch Thoughts as are Natural, unlefs it abound alfo with fuch as are Sublime. Virgil in this Particular falls fhort of Homer. He has not indeed fo many Thoughts that are Low and Vulgar; but at the fame time has not fo many Thoughts that are Sublime and iMoble The truth of it is, Virgil feldom rifes into very anomfhmg Sentiments, where he is not fired by the Iliad. He every where charms and pleafes us by the force of his own Genius ; but feldom elevates and transports us where he does not fetch his Hints from Homer. Moon's chief Talent, and indeed his diftinguifliing Excellence, hes in the Sublimity of his Thoughts! There are others of the Moderns who rival him in every other part of Poetry ■ but in the greatnefs of his Sentiments he triumphs over all the Poets both Modern and Ancient, Homer only excepted. It is im- pollible for the Imagination of Man to diflend it felf with greater Ideas, than thofe which he has laid to- gether in his firft, [fecond,] and fixth* [tenth] BookEs]. I he feyenth, which defcribes the Creation of the World, is likewife wonderfully Sublime, tho' not fo apt to flir up Emotion in the Mind of the Reader, nor confe- quently fo perfea in the Epic way of Writing, be- caufe it is filled with lefs A<5tion. Let the Reader compare what Longinus has obferved on feveral Paf- fages of Homer, and he will find Parallels for mod of them in the Paradift Lojl. From what has been faid we may infer, that as there are two kinds of Sentiments, the Natural and the Sublime, which are always to be purfued in an Heroic Poem, there are alfo two kinds of Thoughts which are carefully to be avoided. The firfc are fuch as are affected and unnatural ; u,e fecond fuch as are mean and vulgar. As for the firfl kind of Thoughts we meet with little or nothing that is like them in Virgil: He has none of thofe little Points and Puerilities that are fo often to be met with in Ovid, none of the LOW THOUGHTS ARE TO BE AVOIDED. 29 Epigrammatick Turns of Lucan, none of thofe fwelling Sentiments which are fo frequent [ly] in Statins and Claudian, none of thofe mixed Embellilhments of Taffo. Everything is juft and natural. His Sentiments fhew that he had a perfect Infight into Human Nature, and that he knew every thing which was the moft proper to affect it. # I remember but one Line in him which has been objected againft, by the Criticks, as a point of Wit. It is in his ninth Book, where ^unc fpeaking of the Trojans, how they furvived the Ruins of their City, expreffes her felf in the following Words ; Num capti potuere capi, num incenfa cremarnnt Pergama ? Were the Trojans taken even after they were Captives, or did Troy burn even when it was in Flames ? Mr. Dryden has in fome Places, which I may here- after take notice of, mifreprefented Virgil's way of thinking as to this Particular, in the Tranflation he has given us of the AZneid. I do not remember that Homer any where falls into the Faults above men- tioned, which were indeed the falfe Refinements of later Ages. Milton, it mult be confeft, has fometimes erred in this Refpect, as I fhall fhew more at large in another Paper; tho' confidering how all the Poets of the Age in which he writ, were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did fome- times comply with that [the] vicious Tafle which pre- vails fo much among Modern Writers. But fmce feveral Thoughts may be natural which are low and groveling, an Epic Poet mould not only avoid fuch Sentiments as are unnatural or affected, but alfo fuch as are low and vulgar. Homer has opened a great Field of Raillery to Men of more Delicacy than Greatnefs of Genius, by the Homelinefs of fome of his Sentiments. But, as I have before faid, thefe * From ' I remember' to * Flames?* omitted in second edition. 30 SENTIMENTS EXCITING LAUGHTER SHOULD BE EXCLUDED. are rather to be imputed to the Simplicity of the Age in which he lived, to which I may alfo add, of that which he defcribed, than to any Imperfection in that Divine Poet. Zoilus, among the Ancients, and Mon- fieur Perrault, among the Moderns, pufhed their Ridi- cule very far upon him, on account of fome fuch Senti- ments. There is no Blemiih to be obferved in Virgil under this Head, and but very few in Milton. I mail give but one Inftance of this Impropriety of Sentiments in Ho??zer, and at the fame time compare it with an Inftance of the fame nature, both in Virgil and Milton. Sentiments which raife Laughter, can very feldom be admitted with any decency into an Heroic Poem, whofe Bufmefs it # is to excite Paffions of a much nobler Nature. Homer, however, in his Cha- racters of Vulcan and Therfttes; in his Story of Mars and Venus, in his Behaviour of Irus, and in other Paf- fages, has been obferved to have lapfed into the Bur- lefque Character, and to have departed from that ferious Air which feems effential to the Magnificence of an Epic Poem. I remember but one Laugh in the whole sEneid, which rifes in the Fifth Book upon Moncetes, where he is reprefented as thrown overboard, and drying himfelf upon a Rock. But this Piece of Mirth is fo well timed, that the fevereft Critick can have nothing to fay againft it, for it is in the Book of Games and Diversions, where the Reader's Mind may be fuppofed to be fufhciently relaxed for fuch an En- tertainment. The only Piece of Pleafantry in Para- dife Loft, is where the Evil Spirits are defcribed as rallying the Angels upon the Succefs of their new invented Artillery. This Paffage I look upon to be the fillieft [moil exceptionable] in the whole Poem, as being nothing elfe but a firing of Punns, and thofe . too very indifferent ones. -Satan beheld their Plight^ And to his Mates thus in derifton calFd, O Friends, why come not on the/e Viclors proud/ THE ONLY PIECE OF PLEASANTRY IN 'PARADISE LOST/ $1 Eer while they fierce were co7?iing, and when we, To entertain them fair with open Front, A?id Breafl, i^what could we more) propounded terms Of Compofition, flraight they changed their Minds, Flew off, and intoflrange Vagaries fell, As they would dance, yet for a Dance they feenid Somewhat extravagant, and wild, perhaps For Joy of offer" d Peace ; but I fuppofe If our Propofals once again were heard, Wefhould compel them to a quick Remit. To whom thus Belial in like gamefome mood. Leader, the Terms we fent, were Terms of weight, Of hard Contents, and full of force urg' d home, Such as we might perceive amus'd them all, And {tumbled many ; who receives them right, Had need, from Head to Foot, well underftand; Not underftood, this Gift they have befides, They fheiv us when our Foes walk not upright. Thus they among the?nf elves i?ip leaf ant vein Stood fcoffing Numb. CCLXXXV. The SPECTATOR. Ne quicunque Dens, quicunque adhibebitur heros> Regali confpeclus in auro nuper 6° ojlro, Migret in Obfcuras humili fermone tabemas : Ant dum vitat humum, nitbes 6° inania captet Hoi. {But then they did not wrong them f elves fo much, To make a God, a Hero, or a King (Stript of his golden Crown, and ptitple Robe) Defcend to a Mechanick Dialecl ; Nor (to avoid fuch Meannefs) f oaring high. With empty Sound, and airy Notions, fly. Rofcommon. } Saturday , January 26. 17 12. WING already treated of the Fable, the Characters, and Sentiments in the Paradife LoJl y we are in the lafl place to confide r the Language • and as the learned World is very much divided upon Milton as to this Point, I hope they will excufe me if I appear particular in any of my Opinions, and encline to thofe who judge the mofl advantagioufly of the Author. It is requifite that the Language of an Heroic Poem fhould be both Perfpicuous and Sublime. In proportion as either of thefe two Qualities are want- ing, the Language is imperfect. Perfpicuity is the firft and moft neceffary Qualification ; infomuch, that a good-natured Reader fometimes overlooks a little Slip even in the Grammar or Syntax, where it is im- poffible for him to miftake the Poet's Senfe. Of this kind is that Paffage .in Milton, wherein he fpeaks of Satan. THE LANGUAGE SHOULD BE PERSPICUOUS AND SUBLIME. 33 God and his Son except, , Created thing 7tought valu'ct he norfhunrCd* And that in which he defcribes Adam and Eve. Adam the goodlieji Man of Men fence born His Sons, the fair eft of her Daughters Eve. It is plain, that in the former of thefe Paffages, ac- cording to the natural Syntax, the Divine Perfons mentioned in the nrft Line are reprefented as created Beings ; and that in the other, Adam and Eve are con- founded with their Sons and Daughters. Such little Blemifhes as thefe, when the Thought is great and ' natural, we mould, with Horace, impute to a pardon- able Inadvertency, or to the Weaknefs of Human Nature, which cannot attend to each minute Parti- cular, and give the laft fmiihing to every Circumftance in fo long a Work. The Ancient Criticks therefore, who were acted by a Spirit of Candour, rather than that of Cavilling, invented certain figures of Speech, on purpofe to palliate little Errors of this nature in the Writings of thofe Authors, who had fo many greater Beauties to atone for them. If Clearnefs and Perfpicuity were only to be con- sulted, the Poet would have nothing elfe to do but to cloath his Thoughts in the moil plain and natural Ex- preffions. But, fmce it often happens, that the mofl obvious Phrafes, and thofe which are ufed in ordinary Converfation, become too familiar to the Ear, and contract a kind of Meannefs by paffmg through the Mouths of the Vulgar, a Poet mould take particular care to guard himfelf againft Idiomatick ways of fpeaking. Ovid and Lucan have many Poorneffes of Expreffion upon this account, as taking up with the nrft Phrafes that offered, without putting themfelves to the trouble of looking after fuch as would not only have been natural, but alfo elevated and fublime. Milton has but few Failings in this kind, of which, c 34 A SUBLIME STYLE MAY BE FORMED BY however, you may fee an Inftance or two [meet with fome Inftances, as] in the following Paffages. Embrids and Idiots, Eremites and Eryars White, Black, and Grey, with all their Trumpery, Here Pilgrims roam- - Awhile Difcourfe they hold, No fear left Dinner cool ; when thus began Our Author Who of all Ages to fucceed, but feeling The Evil 07i him brought by me, will cur fe My Head, ill fare our Anceflor impure. For this we may thank Adam The great Mailers in Compofition know very well that many an elegant Phrafe becomes improper for a Poet or an Orator, when it has been debafed by com- mon ufe. For this reafon the Works of Ancient Authors, which are written in dead Languages, have a great Advantage over thofe which are written in Lan- guages that are now fpoken. Were there any mean Phrafes or Idioms in Virgil and Homer, they would not fhock the Ear of the moft delicate Modern Reader, fo much as they would have done that of an old Greek or Roman, becaufe we never hear them pronounced in our Streets, or in ordinary Converfation. It is not therefore fufficient, that the Language of an Epic Poem be Perfpicuous, unlefs it be alfo Sub- lime. To this end it ought to deviate from the com- mon Forms and ordinary Phrafes of Speech. The Judgment of a Poet very much difcovers it felf in fhunning the common Roads of Expreffion, without falling into fuch ways of Speech as may feem ftiff and unnatural ; he muft not fwell into a falfe Sublime, by endeavouring to avoid the other Extream. Among the Greeks, Efchylus, and fometimes Sophocles, were guilty of this Fault ; among the Latins, Claudian and Statins ; and among our own Countrymen, Shakefpear and Lee. In thefe Authors the Affectation of Great- nefs often hurts the Perfpicuity of the Stile, as in USING METAPHORS, FOREIGN IDIOMS, ETC. 35 many others the Endeavour after Perfpicuity prejudices its Greatnefs. Ariflotle has obferved, that the Idiomatick Stile may be avoided, and the Sublime formed, by the following Methods. Firft, by the ufe of Metaphors, like thofe of Milton. Imparadis'd in one anothers Amis, And i7i his Hand a Reed Stood waving tipt with Fire;- The gra f fie Clods now calv'd- In thefeandfeveral [innumerable] other Inflances, the Metaphors are very bold but beautiful ; I muft however obferve, that the Metaphors are not thick fown in Milton, which always favours too much of Wit; that they never clafh with one another, which as Ari/lotle ob- ferves, turns a Sentence into a kind of an Enigma or Riddle; and that he feldom makes ufe of them where the proper and natural Words will do as well. Another way of raifing the Language, and giving it a Poetical Turn, is to make ufe of the Idioms of other Tongues. Virgil is full of the Greek Forms of Speech, which the Criticks call Hellenifms, as Horace in his Odes abounds with them much more than Virgil. I need not mention the feveral Dialects which Homer has made ufe of for this end. Milton, in conformity with the Practice of the Ancient Poets, and with Arifiotle's, Rule has infufed a great many latinifms, as well as Grcecifms, [and fometimes Hebraifms^\ into the Language of his Poem; as towards the Beginning of it. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce Pains not feel. [ Yet to their General's Voice they foon obefd.~\ Whojhall tempt with wandring Feet The dark unbottom!d Infinite Abyfs, And through the palpable Obfcure t /&^ out his way, 36 A SUBLIME STYLE MAY BE FORMED BY INVERTING His uncouth way, or fpread his airy Flight Upborn with indefatigable Wings Over the vail Abrupt ! [ So both afcend In the Vifwns of God B. 2.] Under this Head may be reckoned the placing the Adjective after the Subflantive, the tranfpofition of Words, the turning the Adjective into a Subflantive, with feveral other Foreign Modes of Speech, which this Poet has naturalized to give his Verfe the greater Sound, and throw it out of Profe. The third Method mentioned by A riflotle, is that which [what] agrees with the Genius of the Greek Language more than With that of any other Tongue, and is therefore more ufed by Homer than by any other Poet I mean the lengthning of a Phrafe by the Addition of Words, which may either be inferted or omitted, as alfo by the extending or contracting of particular Words by the Infertion or Omiffion of certain Syllables. Milton has put in practice this Method of raifmg his Lan- guage, as far as the nature of our Tongue will permit, as in the Paffage above-mentioned, Eremite, [for] what is Hermit [e], in common Difcourfe. If you obferve the Meafure of his Verfe, he has with great Judgment fup- preffed a Syllable in feveral Words, and fhortned thofe of two Syllables into one, by which Method, befides the abovementioned Advantage, he has given a greater Variety to his Numbers. But this Practice is more particularly remarkable in the Names of Per- fons and of Countries, &sBeelzebub,Heffebon, and in many other Particulars, wherein he has either changed the Name, or made ufe of that which is not the mofl com- monly known, that he might the better deviate from the Language of the Vulgar. The fame Reafon recommended to him feveral old Words, which alfo makes his Poem appear the more venerable, and gives it a greater Air of Antiquity. I mull likewife take notice, that there are in Milton OR LENGTHENING PHRASES. MILTON COINS WORDS.? 37 feveral Words of his own Coining, as Cerberean, \*nif- created. Hell-doom 'd, Embryon Atoms, and many others. If the Reader is offended at this Liberty in our Engtijh Poet, I would recommend him to a Difcourfe in 'Plu- tarch, which mews us how frequently Homer has n? ia de ufe of the fame Liberty. Milton, by the above-mentioned Helps, and by \*he choice of the nobleft Words and Phrafes which our Tongue wou'd afford him, has carried our Language to a greater height than any of the Englijh Poets have ever done before or after him, and made the Sublimity of his Stile equal to that of his Sentiments. I have been the more particular in thefe Obferva- tions of Milton's Stile* becaufe it is that part of him in which he appears the moft fmgular. The Remarks I have here made upon the Practice of other Poets, with my Obfervations out of Ariftotle, will perhaps alleviate the Prejudice which fdme have taken to his Poem upon this Account ; tho' after all, I mufl confefs, that I think his Stile, tho' admirable in general, is in fome places too much fliffened and ob- fcured by the frequent ufe of thofe Methods, which Ariftotle has prefcribed for the raifing of it. This Redundancy of thofe feveral ways of Speech which Ariftotle calls foreign Language, and with which Milton has fo very much enriched, and in fome places darkned the Language of his Poem, is [was] the more proper for his ufe, becaufe his Poem is written in Blank Verfe. Rhyme, without any other Afhftance, throws the Language off from Profe, and very often makes an indifferent Phrafe pafs unregarded ; but where the Verfe is not built upon Rhymes, there Pomp of Sound, and Energy of Expreffion, are indif- penfably neceffary to fupport the Stile, and keep it from falling into the Flatnefs of Profe. Thofe who have not a Tafte for this Elevation of Stile, and are apt to ridicule a Poet when he departs from the common Forms of Expreffion, would do well to fee how Ariftotle has treated an ancient Author, 33 milton's verse. called Euclid, for his infrpid Mirth upon this Occafion. jyjv. Dry den ufed to call this fort of Men his Profe- Crificks. jl mould, under this Head of the Language, con- fioW Milton's Numbers, in which he has made ufe of f eve ral Elifions, that are not cuftomary among other J? n glifh Poets, as may be particularly obferved in his CD dting off the Letter F, when it precedes a Vowel. 'ti his, and fome other Innovations in the Meafure of his Verfe, has varied his Numbers in fuch a manner, as makes them incapable of fatiating the Ear and cloying the Reader, which the fame uniform Meafure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual Returns of Rhyme never fail to do in long Narrative Poems. I mall clofe thefe Reflections upon the Lan- guage of Paradife Lojl, with obferving that Milton has copied after Homer, rather than Virgil, in the length of his Periods, the Copioufnefs of his Phrafes, and the running of his Verfes into one another. Numb. CCXCL The SPECTATOR. Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis Offendor maculis, quas aut Incuria fudit, Aut Humana parum cavit Natura Hor. \ But in a Poem elegantly writ, I will not quarrel with a flight Mijlake, Such as our Nature } s frailty may excufe. Rofcommon.l Saturday, February 2. 17 12. Have now confider'd Milton's Paradife Loft under thofe four great Heads of the Fable, the Characters, the Sentiments, and the Language ; and have fhewn that he excels, in general, under each of thefe Heads. I hope that I have made feveral Difcoveries that [which] may appear new, even to thofe who are verfed in Critical Learning. Were I indeed to chufe my Readers, by whofe Judgment I would Hand or fall, they mould not be fuch as are acquainted only with Xht French and//tf//#/zCriticks,but alio with the Ancient and Moderns who have written in either of the learned Languages. Above all, I would have them well verfed in the Greek and Latin Poets, without which a Man very often fancies that he underftands a Critick, when in reality he does not comprehend his Meaning. It is in Criticifm, as in all other Sciences and Speculations ; one who brings with him any implicit Notions and Obfervations which he has made in his reading of the Poets, will find his own Reflections methodized and explained, and perhaps feveral little Hints that had paffed in his Mind, perfected and 1m- 40 A CPITIC MUST HAVE A CLEAR 6° LOGICAL HEAD : &> OUGHT proved in the Works of a good Critick ; whereas one who has not thefe previous Lights, is very often an utter Stranger to what he reads, and apt to put a wrong Interpretation upon it. Nor is it fumcientf that a Man who fets up for a Judge in Criticifm, fhould have perufed the Authors above-mentioned, unlefs he has alfo a clear and Logical Head. Without this Talent he is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidft his own Blunders, miftakes the Senfe of thofe he would confute, or if he chances to think right, does not know how to convey his Thoughts to another with Clearnefs and Perfpicuity. Ari/iotle, who was the befl Critick, was alfo one of the belt Logicians that ever appeared in the World. Mr. Lock's Effay on Human Underftanding would be thought a very odd Book for a Man to make himfelf Mailer of, who would get a Reputation by Critical Writings ; though at the fame time it is very certain, that an Author who has not learn'd the Art of diftinguifhing between Words and Things, and of ranging his Thoughts, and fetting them in proper Lights, whatever Notions he may have, will lofe himfelf in Con- fufion and Obfcurity. I might further obferve, that there is not a Greek or Latin Critick, who has not fhewn, even in the ftile of his Criticifms, that he was a Matter of all the Elegance and Delicacy of his Native Tongue. The truth of it is, there is nothing more abfurd, than for a Man to fet up for a Critick, without a good Infight into all the Parts of Learning ; whereas many of thofe who have endeavoured to hgnalize themfelves by Works of this Nature among our Englijh Writers, are not only defective in the above-mentioned Parti- culars, but plainly difcover by the Phrafes which they make ufe of, and by their confufed way of thinking, that they are not acquainted with the moft common and ordinary Syftems of Arts and Sciences. A few general Rules extracted out of Xht French Authors, with a certain Cant of Words, has fometimes fet up an Illiterate heavy Writer for a moil judicious and formidable Critick. TO DWELL RATHER ON EXCELLENCIES THAN IMPERFECTIONS. 41 One great Mark, by which you may difcover a Critick who has neither Tafte nor Learning, is this, that he feldom ventures to praife any Paffage in an Author which has not been before received and ap- plauded by the Publick, and that his Criticifm turns wholly upon little Faults and Errors. This part of a Critick is fo very eafie to fucceed in, that we find every ordinary Reader, upon the publifhing of a new Poem, has Wit and Ill-nature enough to turn feveral Paffages of it into Ridicule, arid very often in the right Place. This Mr. Dry den has very agreeably remarked in thofe two celebrated Lines, Errors, like Straws ', upon the Surf ace flow ; He who would fear ch for Pearls mufi dive below. A true Critick ought to dwell rather upon Excel- lencies than Imperfections, to difcover the concealed Beauties of a Writer, and communicate to the World fuch things as are worth their Obfervation. The moft exquifite Words and fmeft Strokes of an Author are thofe which very often appear the moft doubtful and exceptionable, to a Man who wants a Relifh for po- lite Learning ; and they are thefe, which a fower [foure] undiftinguiihing Critick generally attacks with the greatefl Violence. Tully obferves, that it is very eafie to brand or fix a Mark upon what he calls Verbum ardens, or, as it may be rendered into Englifh, a glow- ing bold Expreflfion, and to turn it into Ridicule by a cold ill-natured Criticifm. A little Wit is equally capable of expofmg a Beauty, and of aggravating a Fault ; and though fuch a Treatment of an Author naturally produces Indignation in the Mind of an underflanding Reader, it has however its efFecl; among the generality of thofe whofe Hands it falls into, the Rabble of Mankind being very apt to think that every thing which is laughed at with any mixture of Wit, is ridiculous in it felf. Such a Mirth as this, is always unfeafonable in a Critick, as it rather prejudices the Reader than con- 42 SIMPLE RIDICULE UNFAIR IN WORKS OF CRITICISM. vinces him, and is capable of making a Beauty, as well as a Blemilh, the Subject of Derm on. A Man, who cannot write with Wit on a proper Subject, is dull and ftupid, but one who mews it in an improper place, is as impertinent and abfurd. Befides, a Man who has the Gift of Ridicule is very* apt to find Fault with any thing that gives him an Opportunity of exerting his beloved Talent, and very often cenfures a Paffage, not becaufe there is any Fault in it, but becaufe he can be merry upon it. Such kinds of Pleafantry are very unfair and difmgenuous in Works of Criticifm, in which the greateft Mailers, both Ancient and Modern, have always appeared with a ferious and inftructive Air. As I intend in my next Paper to fhew the Defects in Miltorts Paradife Loft, I thought fit to premife thefe few Particulars, to the End that the Reader may know I enter upon it, as on a very ungrateful Work, and that I mall juft point at the Imperfections, without en- deavouring to enrlame them with Ridicule. I mult alfo obferve with Longinus, that the Productions of a great Genius, with many Lapfes and Inadvertencies, are in- finitely preferable to the Works of an inferior kind of Author, which are fcrupulouily exact and conformable to all the Rules of correct Writing. I Ihall conclude my Paper with a Story out of Bocca- lini, which fufficiently fhews us the Opinion that Judi- cious Author entertained of the fort of Criticks I have been here mentioning. A famous Critick, fays he, having gathered together all the Faults of an Eminent Poet, made a Prefent of them to Apollo, who received them very graciouily, and refolved to make the Author a fuitable Return for the Trouble he had been at in collecting them. In order to this, he fet before him a Sack of Wheat, as it had been juft threihed out of the Sheaf. He then bid him pick out the Chaff from among the Corn, and lay it afide by it felf. The Critick applied hirnfelf to the Task with great Induftry and Pleafure, and after having made the due Separation, was prefented by Apollo with the Chaff for his Pains. Numb. CCXCVII. The SPECTATOR. -velut fi Egregio in/ft erf os reprendas corpore ncevos. Hor. \As perfecl beauties often have a Mole. Creech. } Saturday ', February 9, 17 12. |FTER what I have faid in my laft Satur- day's Paper, I fhall enter on the SubjecSl of this without farther Preface, and remark the feveral Defers which appear in the Fable, the Characters, the Sentiments, and the Language of Milton's Paradife Lofl ; not doubting but the Reader will pardon me, if I alledge at the fame time whatever may be faid for the Extenuation of fuch Defecfls. The firft Imperfection which I fhall obferve in the Fable is, that the Event of it is unhappy. The Fable of every Poem is according to Ariflotle's Divifion either Simple or Implex. It is called Simple when there is no change of Fortune in it, Implex when the Fortune of the chief Acflor changes from Bad to Good, or from Good to Bad. The Implex Fable is thought the mofl perfecfl • I fuppofe, becaufe it is mofl proper to ftir up the Paffions of the Reader, and to furprize him with a greater variety of Accidents. The Implex Fable is therefore of two kinds : In the firft the chief Acflor makes his way through a long Series of Dangers and Difficulties, 'till he arrives at Honour and Profperity, as we fee in the Stories [Story] of Ulyjfes and*s£neas* In the fecond, the chiefAcflorin the Poem falls fromfome eminent pitch of Honour and Profperity, into Mifery and Difgrace. Thus we fee Adam and Eve linking from a State of Innocence and Happinefs, into the mofl abjecfl Condition of Sin and Sorrow. 44 DEFECTS. THE FABLE IS UNHAPPY, ITS HERO UN- The moft taking Tragedies among the Ancients were built on this laft fort of Implex Fable, particu- larly the Tragedy of OEdipus, which proceeds upon a Story, if we may believe Ariflotle, the mod proper for Tragedy that could be invented by the Wit of Man. I have taken fome pains in a former Paper to (hew, that this kind of Implex Fable, wherein the Event is unhappy, is more apt to affect an Audience than that of the firfl kind ; notwithstanding many excellent Pieces among the Ancients, as well as moil of thofe which have been written of late Years in our own Country, are raifed upon contrary Plans. I mult however own, that I think this kind of Fable, which is the moft perfect in Tragedy, is not fo proper for an Heroic Poem. Milton feems to have been fenfible of this Imper- fection in his Fable, and has therefore endeavoured to cure it by feveral Expedients ; particularly by the Mortification which the great Adverfary of Mankind meets with upon his return to the Affembly of Infernal Spirits, as it is defcribed in that [a] beautiful Paffage of the tenth Book ; and likewife by the Vifion, wherein Adam at the clofe of the Poem fees his Off-fpring triumphing over his great Enemy, and himfelf reflored to a happier Paradife than that from which he fellf There is another Objection againfl Milton's Fable, which is indeed almofi the fame with the former, tho' placed in a different Light, namely, That the Hero in the Paradife Lojl is unfuccefsful, and by no means a Match for his Enemies. This gave occafion to Mr. Dry den's Reflection, that the Devil was in reality Milton's Hero. I think I have obviated this Objection in my firfl Paper. The Paradife Lofl is an Epic, [or a] Narrative Poem, he that looks for an Hero in it, fearches for that which Milton never in- tended \ but if he will needs fix the Name of an Hero upon any Perfon in it, 'tis certainly the Meffcah who + See p. 147. SUCCESSFUL, AND IT HAS TOO MANY DIGRESSIONS. 45 is the Hero, both in the Principal Action, and in the [chief] Epifode[s]. Paganifm could not furnifh out a real Action for a Fable greater than that of the Iliad or JEneid, and therefore an Heathen could not form a higher Notion of a Poem than one of that kind, which they call an Heroic. Whether Miltorts is not of a greater [fublimer] Nature I will not prefume to de- termine, it is fufficient that I fhew there is in the Para- di/elojl all the Greatnefs of Plan, Regularity of Defign, and mafterly Beauties which we difcover in Homer and Virgil. I muft in the next Place obferve, that Milton has interwoven in the Texture of his, Fable fome Particu- lars which do not feem to have Probability enough for an Epic Poem., particularly in the Actions which he afcribes to Sin and Death, and the Picture which he draws of the Lymbo of Vanity, with other Paffages in the fecond Book. Such Allegories rather favour of the Spirit of Spencer and Ariofto, than of Homer and Virgil. In the Structure of his Poem he has like wife ad- mitted of too many Digreffions. It is finely obferved by Ariflotle, that the Author of an Heroic Poem fhould feldom fpeak himfelf, but throw as much of his Work as he can into the Mouths of thofe who are his Principal Actors. Arijlotle has given no Reafon for this Precept ; but I prefume it is becaufe the Mind of the Reader is more awed and elevated when he hears SEneas or Achilles fpeak, than when Virgil or Homer talk in their own Perfons. Befides that affum- ing the Character of an eminent Man is apt to fire the Imagination, and raife the Ideas of the Author. Tully tells us, mentioning his Dialogue of Old Age, in which Cato is the chief Speaker, that upon a Review of it he was agreeably impofed upon, and fancied that it was Cato, and not he himfelf, who utter'd his Thoughts on that Subject. If the Reader would be at the pains to fee how the Story of the Iliad and the ^E?ieid is delivered by thofe 46 DEFECTS. THE SENTIMENTS : PUNS, TOO FREQUENT AL- Perfons who act in it, he will be furprized to find how little in either of thefe Poems proceeds from the Authors. Milton has, in the general difpofition of his Fable, very finely obferved this great Rule ; info- much, that there is fcarce a third part of it which comes from the Poet ; the reft is fpoken either by Adam and Eve, or by fome Good or Evil Spirit who is engaged either in their DefLruction or Defence. From what has been here obferved it appears, that Digreffions are by no means to be allowed of in an Epic Poem. If the Poet, even in the ordinary courfe of his Narration, mould fpeak as little as poffible, he , fhould certainly never let his Narration lleep for the fake of any Reflections of his own. I have often ob- ferved, with a fecret Admiration, that the longeft Re- flection in the ^Eneid is in that Paffage of the Tenth Book, where Turnus is reprefent[ed] as drefling himfelf in the Spoils of Pallas, whom he had flain. Virgil here lets his Fable ftand flill for the fake of the fol- lowing Remark. How is the Mind of Man ignorant of Futurity, and unable to bear profperous Fortune with Moderation ? The time will come when Tumusfhall wifh that he had left the Body of Pallas untouched, and curfe the Day on which he drejfed himfelf in thefe Spoils. As the great Event of the sEneid, and the Death of Turnus, whom ALneas flew becaufe he faw him adorned with the Spoils of Pallas, turns upon this Incident, Virgil went out of his way to make this Reflection upon it, without which fo fmall a Circum- ftance might poffibly have flipped out of his Reader's Memory. Lucaji, who was an Injudicious Poet, lets drop his Story very frequently for the fake of [his] unneceffary Digreffions or his Diverticula, as Scaliger calls them. If he gives us an Account of the Pro- digies which preceded- the Civil War, he declaims upon the Occafion, and fhews how much happier it would be for Man, if he did not feel his Evil Fortune before it comes to pafs, and fuffer not only by its real Weight, but by the Apprehenfion of it. Milton's Complaint LUSION TO HEATHEN FABLES, OSTENTATION OF LEARNING. 47 of his JBlindnefs, his Panegyrick on Marriage, his Re- flections on Adam and Eve's going naked, of the Angels eating, and feveral other Paffages in his Poem, are liable to the fame Exception, tho' I muft confefs there is fo great a Beauty in thefe very Digreffions, that I would not wifh them out of his Poem. I have, in a former Paper, fpoken of the Characters of Milton's Paradife Loft, and declared my Opinion, as to the Allegorical Perfons who are introduced in it. If we look into the Sentiments, I think they are fometimes defective under the following Heads ; Firft, as there are fome [feveral] of them too much pointed, and fome that degenerate even into Punns. Of this laft kind I am afraid is that in the Firft Book, where, fpeaking of the Pigmies, he calls them. -Thefj?iall Infantry Warr'd on by Cranes- Another Blemifh that appears in fome of his Thoughts, is his frequent Allufion to Heathen Fables, which are not certainly of a Piece with the Divine Subject, of which he treats. I do not find fault with thefe Allufions, where the Poet himfelf reprefents them as fabulous, as he does in fome Places, but where he mentions them as Truths and Matters of Fact. The Limits of my Paper will not give me leave to be particular in Inftances of this kind : The Reader will eafily remark them in his Perufal of the Poem. A Third Fault in his Sentiments, is an unneceffary Oftentation of Learning, which likewife occurs very frequently. It is certain that both Homer and Virgil were Mailers of all the Learning of their Times, but it ihews it felf in their Works after an indirect and con- cealed manner. Milton feems ambitious of letting us know, by his Excurfions on Free-will and Predeflina- tion, and his many Glances upon Hiftory, Aftronomy, Geography and the like, as well as by the Terms and Phrafes he fometimes makes ufe of, that he was acquainted with the whole Circle of Arts and Sciences. 48 DEFECTS. THE LANGUAGE IS OFTEN TOO If, in the laft place, we confider the Language of . this great Poet, we mufl allow what I have hinted in a former Paper, that it is [often] too much laboured, and fometimes obfcuredby old Words, Tranfpofitions, and Foreign Idioms. Seneca's Objection to the Stile of a great Author, Riget ejus oratio, nihil in ed placi- dum, nihil lene, is what many Criticks make to Milton : as I cannot wholly refute it, fo I have already apolo- gized for it in another Paper ; to which I may further add, that Milton's Sentiments and Ideas were fo won- derfully Sublime, that it. would have been impoffible for him to have reprefented them in their full Strength and Beauty, without having recourfe to thefe Foreign Affiflances. Our Language funk under him, and was unequal to that greatnefs of Soul, which furnifhed him with fuch glorious Conceptions. A fecond Fault in his Language is, that he often af- fects a kind of Jingle in his Words, as in the following Paffages, and many others : And brought into the World a World of woe, -Begirt tK Almighty Throne Befeeching or befieging- This tempted our attempt- At one Slight bound high overleapt all bound. I know there are Figures of this kind of Speech, that fome of the greateft Ancients have been guilty of it, and that Arijlotle himfelf has given it a place in his Rhetorick among the Beauties of that Art. But as it is in itsfelf poor and trifling, it is I think at prefent uni- verfally exploded by all the Mailers of polite Writing. The laft Fault which I fhall take notice of in Mil- ton's Stile, is the frequent ufe of what the Learned call Technical Words, or Terms of Art. It is one of the great Beauties of Poetry, to make hard things in- telligible, and to deliver what is abftrufe of it felf in fuch eafy Language as may be underftood by ordinary Readers: Befides that the Knowledge of a Poet Ihould rather feem born with him, or infpired, than OBSCURE, JINGLING, AND TECHNICAL. 49 drawn from Books and Syftems. I have often won- dered how Mr. Dryden could tranflate a Paffage of Virgil after the following manner. Tack to the Larboard, andfland off to Sea y Veer Star-board Sea and Land. Milton makes ufe of Larboard in the fame manner. When he is upon Building he mentions Doric Pillars, Pilaflers, Cornice, Freeze, Architrave. When he talks of Heavenly Bodies, you meet with Eccliptick, and Eccen- tric, the trepidation, Stars dropping from the Zeiiith, Rays culminating from the Equator. To which might be added many Inftances of the like kind in feveral other Arts and Sciences. I (hall in my next Saturday's* Paper [Papers] give an Account of the many particular Beauties in Milton, which would have been too long to infert under thofe general Heads I have already treated of, and with which I intend to conclude this Piece of Criticifm. Numb. CCCIII. The SPECTATOR. votet here fub luce videri % Judicis argutum qua nonformidat acumen. I lor. -Some choofe the cleareft Light, And boldly challenge the nio/i piercing Eye. Rofcommon. } Saturday, February 16. 17 12. Have feen in the Works of a Modern Philofopher, a -Map of the Spots in the Sun. My tail Taper of the Faults and Blemifhes in Miltoris Paradife Lojl, may be confider'd as a Piece of the fame Nature. To purfue the Allufion : As it is obferv'd, that among the bright parts of the Luminous Body above-mentioned, there are fome which glow more intenfely, and dart a ftronger Light than others; fo, notwithstanding I have already (hewn Miltoris Poem to be very beautiful in general, I fhall now proceed to take notice of fuch Beauties as appear to me more exquifite than the reft. Milton, has propofed the Subject of his Poem in the following Verfes. Of J fans fnjl difobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whofe mortal tajle Brought Death into the World and all our wee, With lofs ^/"Eden, ^ till one greater Man Reflore us, and regain the blifful Seat, Sing Heav'nly Mufe Thefe Lines are perhaps as plain, fimple and un- adorned as any of the whole Poem, in which particu- lar the Author has conform' d himfelf to the Example of Homer, and the Precept of Horace, His Invocation to a Work which turns^ in a great CRITICISM OF BOOK I. 51 rneafure upon the Creation of the World, is very properly made to the Mufe who infpired Mofes in thole Books from whence our Author drew his Sub- ject, and to the Holy Spirit who is therein reprefented as operating after a particular manner in the firft Production of Nature. This whole Exordium rifes very happily into noble Language and Sentiment, as I think the Tranfition to the Fable is exquifitely beautiful and natural. The nine Days Aflonifliment, in which the Angels lay entranced after their dreadful Overthrow and Fall from Heaven, before they could recover either the ufe of Thought or Speech, is a noble Circumftance^ and very finely imagined. The Divifion of Hell into Seas of Fire, and into firm Ground impregnated with the fame furious Element, with that particular Cir- cumflance of the exclufion of Hope from thofe Infer- nal Regions, are Inftances of the lame great and fruitful Invention. The Thoughts in the firft Speech and Defcription of Satan, who is one of the principal Actors in this Poem, are wonderfully proper to give us a full Idea of him. His Pride, Envy and Revenge, Obftinacy, Defpair and Impenitence, are all of them very artfully interwoven. In fliort, his firft Speech is a Complica- tion of all thofe Paflions which difcover themfelves Separately in feveral other of his Speeches in the Poem. The whole part of this great Enemy of Man- kind is filled with fuch Incidents as are very apt to raife and terrifie the Reader's Imagination. Of this Nature, in the Book now before us, is his being the firft that awakens out of the general Trance, with his Poflure on the burning Lake, his rifing from it, and the Defcription of his Shield and Spear. Thus Satan talking to his near eft mate, With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes Thai fparkling blazed, his other parts befide Prone on the Floods extended long and large. 52 CRITICISM OF BOOK T. Lay floating many a rood Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames Driven backward flope their pointing Spires ', and roivPd In Billows^ leave i y th' midjl a horrid vale. Then with expanded wings he fleers his flight Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air That felt unufual w eight - -His pondrous Shield Ethereal temper, maffie, large and round Behind him cafl ; the broad circumference Hung on his Shoulders like the Moon, ivhofe orb Thrd Optick Glafs the Tufcan Artifls view At Evening from the top (/Fefole, Or i?i Valdarno to defcry new Lands, Fivers or Mowitains on her f potty Globe. His Spear to equal which the tallefl pine Hewn on Norwegian Hills to be the Mafl Of fo me great Ammiral, were but a wand He walked with to fuppo?'t uneafle Steps Over the burning Marl To which we may add his Call to the fallen Angels that lay plunged and flupified in the Sea of Fire. He calVdfo 7n ud, that all the hollow deep Of Hell refounded But there is no fmgle Paffage in the whole Poem worked up to a greater Sublimity, than that wherein his Perfon is defenbed in thofe celebrated Lines : He, above the refl Infhape and geflure proudly eminent Stood like a Tower, &c. His Sentiments are every way anfwerable to his Cha- racter, and are* fuitable to a created Being of the moft exalted and mofl depraved Nature. Such is that in which he takes Poffeffion of his Place of Torments. CRITICISM OF BOOK I. 53 -Hail Horrors ', hail Infernal World, and thou profoundefl Hell Receive thy new Pojfejfor, one who brings A mind not to be changed by place or time. And afterwards, Here at leajl Wejhall be free; th? Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : Here we may reign fecure, and in my choice To reign is worth a7Jibition, thd in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than ferve in Heaven. Amidfl thofe Impieties which this Enraged Spirit utters in other Places of the Poem, the Author has taken care to introduce none that is not big with abfurdity, and incapable of mocking a Religious Reader; his Words, as the Poet himfelf defcribes them, bearing only a femblance of Worth, not Sub/lance. He is likewife with great Art defcribed as owning his Adver- fary to be Almighty. Whatever perverfe Interpreta- tion he puts on the Juftice, Mercy, and other Attri- butes of the Supreme Being, he frequently confeffes his Omnipotence, that being the Perfection he was forced to allow him, and the only Confideration which could fupport his Pride under the Shame of his Defeat. Nor muft I here omit that beautiful Circumftance of his burfling out in Tears, upon his Survey of thofe innumerable Spirits whom he had involved in the fame Guilt and Ruin with himfelf. — He now prepared To f peak ; whereat their doubled ranks they bend From wing to wing, and half enclofe him round With all his Peers : Attention held them mute. Thrice he ajfay'd, and thrice in fpite of Scorn Tears fuch as Angels weep, burfl forth The Catalogue of Evil Spirits has a great deal [Abun- dance] of Learning in it, and a very agreeable turn of 54 CRITICISM OF BOOK I. Poetry, which rifes in a great meafure from his describ- ing the Places where they were worshipped, by thofe beautiful marks of Rivers fo frequent among the Ancient Poets. The Author had doubtlefs in this place Homer's Catalogue of Ships, and Virgil's Lift of Warriors in his view. The Characters of Moloch and Belial prepare the Reader's Mind for their re- fpedlive Speeches and Behaviour in the fecond and fixth Book. The Account of Tkammuz is finely Ro- mantick, and fuitable to what we read among the Ancients of the Worfhip which was paid to that Idol. -Thammuz came next behind, Whofe annual Wound in Lebanon allured The Syrian Damfels to lament his fate, I?i anirons Ditties all a Summer's day, While fmooth Adonis/h?;/z his native Rock Ran purple to the Sea,fuppos'd with Blood Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love-tale Infecled SionV Daughters with like Heat, Whofe wanton Paffions in the f acred Porch Ezekiel faw, when by the Vifion led His Eye furvefd the dark Idolatries Of alienated Judah. The Reader will pardon me if I infeft as a Note on this beautiful Paffage, the Account given us by the late ingenious Mr. Maundrell of this Antient Piece of Worfhip, and probably the firft Occafion of fuch a Superftition. ' We came to a fair large River .... ; doubtlefs the Antient River Adonis, fo famous for the 1 Idolatrous Rites perform'd here in Lamentation of ' Adonis. We had the Fortune to fee what may be c fuppofed to be the Occafion of that Opinion which ' Zucian relates, concerning this River, viz. That this ' Stream, at certain Seafons of the Year, efpecially about t This passage was added in the author's life-time, but subsequent to the second edition. The earliest issue with it in that I have seen, is Notes upon the Twelve Books of'Paadise Lost.* London 1719. p. 43. CRITICISM OF BOOK I. 55 ' the Feafl of Adonis, is of a bloody Colour; which the I* Heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of 1 Sympathy in the River for the Death of Adonis, who 6 was killed by a wild Boar in the Mountains, out of ' which this Stream rifes. Something like this we faw * actually come to pafs ; for the Water was ftain'd to c a furprifmg rednefs; and, as we obferved in Travelling, ' had difcolour'd the Sea a great way into a reddifh 6 Hue, occafion'd doubtlefs by a fort of Minium, or * red Earth, wafhed. into the River by the violence of ; the Rain, and not by any flain from Adonis's Blood.'} The Paffage in the Catalogue, explaining the man- ner how Spirits transform themfelves by Contraction, or Enlargement of their Dimenfions, is introduced with great Judgement, to make way for feveral furprizing Accidents in the Sequel of the Poem. There follows one, at the very End of the Firft Book, which is what the French Critics call Marvellous, but at the fame time probable by reafon of the Paffage laft mentioned. As foon as the Infernal Palace is finifhed, we are told the Multitude and Rabble of Spirits immediately fhrunk themfelves into a fmall Compafs, that there might be Room for fuch anumberlefs Affembly in this capacious Hall. But it is the Poet's Refinement upon this Thought, which I moil admire, and which is indeed very noble in its felf. For he tells us, that not- withftanding the vulgar, among the fallen Spirits, con- tracted their Forms, thofe of the firft Rank and Dignity dill preferved their natural Dimenfions. Thus incorporeal Spirits to fmallejl Forms Reduced their Shapes immenfe, and were at large, Though without Number fill amidjl the Hall Of that infernal Court. But far within, And in their own Dimenfw?is like themfelves^ The Great Seraphick Lords and Cherub i??i. t , In clofe recefs and Secret conclave fate, A thoufand Demy Gods on Golden Seats, Frequent and full 56 CRITICISM OF BOOK 1 The Character of Mammon, and the Defoliation of the Pandcemonium, are full of Beauties. There are feveral other Strokes in the Firft Book won- derfully poetical, and Inftances of that Sublime Genius fo peculiar to the Author. Such is the Defcription of Azazefs Stature, and of the Infernal Standard, which he unfurls ; and [as alfo] of that ghaftly Light, by which the Fiends appear to one another in their Place of Torments. The Seat of Defolatio7i, void of Light, Save what the glimmering of ih of e livid Flames Cajh pale and dreadful The Shout of the whole Hoft of fallen Angels when drawn up in Battle Array : The Univerfal Hofl up fent A Shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night. The Review, which the Leader makes of his In- fernal Army : He thrd the armed files Darts his experienced eye, and foon traverfe The whole Battalio7i views, their order due. Their Vizages and Stature as of Gods, Their number lafil he f urns. And now his Heart Diflends with Pride, and hardening in his flrength Glories The Flafh of Light, which appeared upon the draw- ing of their Swords ; He f pake; and to confirm his words outflew Millions of flaming Swords, drawn from the Thighs Of mighty Cherubim/ the fudden blaze Far rowid illumirtd Hell The fudden Production of the Pandcemonium ; Anon out of the Earth a Fabrick huge Rofe like an Exhalation, with the Sound Of dulcet Symphonies and Voices fweet The Artificial Illuminations made in iu CRITICISM OF BOOK I. 57 -From the arched Roof Pendent by fubtle Magick, many a Row Of Starry Lamps and blazing Crefcets, fed With Naptha a?id Afphaltus yielded Light As from a Sky There are alfo feveral noble Similes and Allufions in the firft Book of Paradife Lofl. And here I mufl obferve, that when Milto?i alludes either to Things or Perfons, he never quits his Simile till it rifes to fome very great Idea, which is often foreign to the Occafion which [that] gave Birth to it. The Refemblance does not, perhaps, laft above a Line or two, but the Poet runs on with the Hint, till he has raifed out of it fome glorious Image or Sentiment, proper to inflame the Mind of the Reader, and to give it that fublime kind of Entertainment, which is fuitable to the Nature of an Heroic Poem. Thofe, who are acquainted with Homer's and Virgil's way of Writing, cannot but be pleafed with this kind of Structure in Milton's Simili- tudes. I am the more particular on this Head, be- caufe ignorant Readers, who have formed their Tafle upon the quaint Similes, and little Turns of Wit, which are fo much in Vogue among Modern Poets, cannot relifh thefe Beauties which are of a much higher nature, and are therefore apt to cenfure Milton's Com- parifons, in which they do not fee any furprizing Points of Likenefs. Monfieur Perrault was a Man of this viciated Relifh, and for that very Reafon has endeavoured to turn into Ridicule feveral of Homer's Similitudes, which he calls Comparaifons a longne queue, Long-tail d Comparifons. I fhalL conclude this Paper on the Firft Book of Milton with the Anfwer which Monfieur Boileau makes to Perrault on this Occafion ; ' Com- ' parifons, fays he, in Odes and Epic Poems are not c introduced only to illuftrate and embellifh the Dii- 1 courfe, but to amufe and relax the Mind of th? * Reader, by frequently difengaging him from too 'painful an Attention to the Principal Subject, and 5§ CRITICISM OF BOOK L ' by leading him into other agreeable Images. Ho- 1 mer, fays he, excelled in this Particular, whole Com- ' parifons abound with fuch Images of Nature as are •' proper to relieve and diverfme his Subjects. He ' continually inftructs the Reader, and makes him ' take notice, even in Objects which are every Day ' before our Eyes, of fuch Circumftances as we fhould 6 not otherwife have obferved. To this he adds, as a ' Maxim \iniverfally acknowledged, that it is not necef- ' fary in Poetry for the Points of the Comparifon to ' correfpond with one another exactly, but that a ' general Refemblance is fufficient, and that too much 1 nicety in this Particular favours of the Rhetorician * and EpigrammatihV In fhort, if we look into the Conduct of Homer, Virgil and Milton, as the great Fable is the Soul of each Poem, fo to give their Works an agreeable Variety, their Epifodes are fo many fhort Fables, and their Similes fo many fhort Epifodes ; to which you may add, if you pleafe, that their Metaphors are fo many fhort Similes. If the Reader confiders the Comparifons in the Firft Book of Milton, of the Sun in an Eclipfe, of the Sleeping Leviathan, of the Bees fwarming about their Hive, of the Fairy Dance, in the view wherein I have here placed them, he will eafily difcover the great Beauties that are in each of thole Paffages. Numb. CCCIX. The SPECTATOR. D% quibus imperium eftanimarum, umbrcequefdentes, Et Chaos \ 6° Phlegethon, loca nocle fdentia late ; Sit mihifas audita loqui : fit numine veflro Pdndere res alta terra & caligine merfas. Virg. { Ye Realms ', yet unreveaVd to human Sight, Ye Gods who rule the Regions of the Night, Ye gliding Ghofts, permit me to relate The myjlic Wonders of your fdent State. Dryden. ]■ Saturday, February 23. 17 12. Have before obferved in general, that the Perfons whom Milton introduces into his Poem always difcover fuch Sentiments and Behaviour, as are in a peculiar manner conformable to their refpective Characters. Every Circumflance in their Speeches and Actions, is with great juflnefs and delicacy adapted to the Perfons who fpeak and act. As the Poet very much excels in this Confiftency of his Characters, I mail beg leave to confider feveral Paffages of the Second Book in this Light. That fuperior Greatnefs and Mock-Majefty, which is afcribed to the Prince of the fallen Angels, is admirably preferved in the beginning of this Book. His opening and clofmg the Debate; his taking on himfelf that great Enterprize at the Thought of which the whole Infernal Affembly trembled ; his encountring the hideous Phantom who guarded the Gates of Hell, and appeared to him in all his Terrors, are Inflances of that proud and daring Mind which could not brook Submiffion even to Omnipotence. Satan was now at hand, and from his Seat The Monfltr moving onward came as fa ft 60 CRITICISM OF BOOK II. With horrid filrides , Hell trembled as heflrode, TJi! undaunted Fiend what this might be admired, Admir'd) not fear 'd The fame Boldnefs and Intrepidity of Behaviour dif- covers it felf in the feveral Adventures which he meets with during his Paffage through the Regions of unform'd Matter, and particularly in his Addrefs to thofe tre- mendous Powers who are defcribed as prefiding over it. The Part of Moloch is likewife in all its Circum- ftances full of that Fire and Fury, which diflinguifh this Spirit from the reft of the fallen Angels. He is defcribed in the firft Book as befmear'd with the Blood of Human Sacrifices, and delighted with the Tears of Parents, and the Cries of Children. In the fecond Book he is marked out as the fiercer! Spirit that fought in Heaven ; and if we confider the Figure which he makes in the Sixth Book, where the Battel of the Angels is defcribed, we find it every way anfwer- able to the fame furious enraged Character. Where the might of Gabriel fought, And with fierce Enfigns pierdd the deep array Of Moloc, furious King, who him deffd, And at his chariot wheels to drag him bound Threaten 'd, nor from the Holy one of Heav'n Refrained his tongue blafphemous ; but anon Dow?i cloven to the wafle, with fhalter ] d arms And uncouth pain fled bellowing. It may be worth while to obferve, that Milton has reprefented this violent impetuous Spirit, who is hurried on by fuch precipitate Paffions, as the firjl that rifes in the Affembly, to give his Opinion upon their prefent Pofture of Affairs. Accordingly he de- clares himfelf abruptly for War, and appears incenfed at his Companions, for lofmg fo much time as even to deliberate upon it. All his Sentiments are Rain, Audacious and Delperate. Such is that of arming themfelves with their Tortures, and turning their Puniihments upon him who inflicted them. CRITICISM OF BOOK IT. Si -No, let us rather chufe, Arm' d with Hell flames and 'fury ', all at once O'er Heavens high tow'rs to force refifllefs way^ Turning our tortures into horrid arms Againfl the Torturer; when to meet the Noife Of his almighty Engine hefhall hear Infernal Thunder •, and for Lightning fee Black fire and horror fhot with equal rage Among his Angels; a?id his throne it f elf Mixt with Tartarean Sulphur, and flrange fae, His own invented Torments^ His preferring Annihilation to Shame or Mifery, is alfo highly fuitable to his Character,, as the Comfort he draws from their difturbing the Peace of Heaven, namely, that if it be not Victory it is Revenge, is a Sentiment truly Diabolical, and becoming the Bitter- nefs of this implacable Spirit. Belial \s described, in the Firfl Book, as the Idol of the Lewd and Luxurious. He is in the Second Book, purfuant to that Defcription, characterized as timorous and flothful ; and if we look into the Sixth Book, we find him celebrated in the Battel of Angels for nothing but that Scoffing Speech which he makes to Satan, on their fuppofed Advantage over the Enemy. As his Appearance is uniform, and of a Piece, in thefe three feveral Views, we find his Sentiments in the Infernal Affembly every way conformable to his Cha- racter. Such are his Apprehenfions of a fecond Battel, his Horrors of Annihilation, his preferring to be miferable rather than not to be. I need not obferve, that the Contralt of Thought in this Speech, and that which precedes it, gives an agreeable Variety to the Debate. Mammorts Character is fo fully drawn in the Firft Book, that the Poet adds nothing to it in the Second. We were before told, that he was the firfl who taught Mankind to ranfack the Earth for Gold and Silver, and that he was the Architect of Pandcemonium, or the Infernal Palace, where the Evil Spirits were to 62 CRITICISM OF BOOK II. meet in Council. His Speech in this Book is every way [where] fuitable to fo depraved a Character. How proper is that Reflection, of their being unable to tafle the Happinefs of Heaven were they actually there, in the Mouth of one, who while he was in Heaven, is faid to have had his Mind dazled with the outward Pomps and Glories of the Place, and to have been more intent on the Riches of the Pavement, than on the Beatifick Vifion. I mall alfo leave the Reader to judge how agreeable the following Sentiments are to the fame Character. -This deep world Of Darknefs do we dread ? How oft amidfi Thick cloud and dark doth Heavens all-ruling Sire Chufe to refide, his Glory unobfcured, And with the Majefly of darknefs round Covers his Throne; from 7vhence deep thunders roar Muflri77g their rage, and Heav'n refembles Hell? As he oicr darknefs, cannot we his light Imitate when we pleafe ? This defart Soil Wants not her hidden litfilre, Gems and Gold; Nor iua?itwe Skill or Art, from whence to raife Magnificence; and what can Heav'nfliew more ? Beelzebub, who is reckon'd the fecond in Dignity that fell, and is in the Firft Book, the fecond that awakens out of the Trance, and confers with Satan upon the fituation of their Affairs, maintains his Rank in the Book now before us. There is a wonderful Majefly defcribed in his rihng up to fpeak. He acts as a kind of Moderator between the two oppofite Parties, and propofes a third Undertaking, which the whole Affembly gives into. The Motion he makes of detaching one of their Body in fearch of a new World is grounded upon a Project devifed by Satan, and curforily pro- pofed by him in the following Lines of the firft Book. Space 7?tay produce new Worlds, whereof fo rife There went a fame in Heaven, that he e'er long CRITICISM OF BOOK II. 63 Intended to create ', and therein plant A generation, whom his choice regard Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven r Thither, if but to pry,fhall be perhaps Our firfl eruption, thither or elfewhere : For this infernal Pit fliall never hold Celeflial Spirits in bondage, nor iH Abyfs Long under Darknefs cover. But thefe thoughts Full Counfel mufl mature : It is on this Project that Beelzebub grounds his Pro- pofal. What if we find Some eafier enterprize ? There is a place {If ancient and prophetic fame in Heav'n Err not) another World, the happy Seat Offome new Race calPd Man, about this time To be created like to us, though lefs In power and excellence, but favoured more Of him who rules above; fo was his Will Fronoundd among the Gods, and by an oath, That fhook Heav'ns whole circumference, confined. The Reader may obferve how juft it was, not to omit in the Firft Book the Project upon which the whole Poem turns : As alfo that the Prince of the falFn Angels was the only proper Perfon to give it Birth, and that the next to him in Dignity was the fit- ter! to fecond and fupport it. There is befides, I think, fomething wonderfully beautiful, and very apt to affect the Reader's Imagi- nation, in this ancient Prophecy or Report in Heaven, concerning the Creation of Man. Nothing could fhew more the Dignity of the Species, than this Tra- dition which ran of them before their Exiflence. They are reprefented to have been the Talk of Heaven, be- fore they were created. Virgil, in compliment to the Roman Common-Wealth, makes the Heroes of it ap- pear in their State of Pre-exiftence ; But Milton does a far greater Honour to Mankind in general, as he giyes us a Glimpfe of them even before they are in Being. 64 CRITICISM OF BOOK II. The riling of this great Affembly is defciibed in a very Sublime and Poetical manner. Their rifing all at oiice was as the found Of Thunder heard remote The Diverfions of the fallen Angels, with the parti- cular Account of their Place of Habitation, are de- fcribed with great Pregnancy of Thought, and Copiouf- nefs of Invention. The Diverfions are every way fuit- able to Beings who had nothing left them but Strength and Knowledge mifapplied. Such are their Conten- tions at the Race, and in Feats of Arms, with their En- tertainment in the following Lines. Others with vafl Typhaean rage more fell Rend up both Rocks and Hills, and ride the Air In Whirlwind; Hell fcarce holds the wild uproar. Their Mufick is employed in celebrating their own criminal Exploits, and their Difcourfe in founding the unfathomable Depths of Fate, Free-will, and Fore- knowledge. The feveral Circumftances in the Defcription of Hell are very finely imagined ; as the four Rivers which difgorge themfelves into the Sea of Fire, the Extreams of Cold and Heat, and the River of Oblivion. The monflrous Animals produced in that infernal World are reprefented by a fmgle Line, which gives us a more horrid Idea of them, than a much longer Defcription would have done. -Nature breeds, Perverfe, all monflrous, all prodigious things, Abominable, inutterable, and worie Than Fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd, Gorgons, a?id Hydra! s, and Chimera! s dire. This Epifode of the fallen Spirits, and their Place of Habitation, comes in very happily to unbend the Mind of the Reader from its Attention to the Debate. An ordinary Poet would indeed have fpun out fo many CRITICISM OF BOOK II. 65 Circumflances to a great Length, and by that means have weaknedjinftead of illuftrated, the principal Fable. The Flight of Satan to the Gates of Hell is finely imaged. I have already declared my Opinion of the Allegory concerning Sin and Death, which is however a very finifhed Piece in its kind, when it is not confidered as a Part of an Epic Poem. The Genealogy of the feveral Perfons is contrived with great Delicacy. Sin is the Daughter of Satan, and Death the Offspring of Sin. The inceftuous Mixture between Sin and Death produces thofe Monfters and Hell-hounds which from time to time enter into their Mother, and tear the Bowels of her who gave them Birth. Thefe are the Terrors of an evil Confcience, and the proper Fruits of Sin, which naturally rife from the Apprehenfions of Death. This laft beautiful Moral is, I think, clearly intimated in the Speech of Sin, where complaining of this her dreadful Iffue, fhe adds, Before mine eyes in oppofition fits, Grim Death thy Son and foe, who fets them on. And me his Parent would f nil fo on devour For want of other prey, but that he knows His end with rnint involv'd I need not mention to the Reader the beautiful Circumftance in the laft Part of this Quotation. He will likewife obferve how naturally the three Perfons concerned in this Allegory are tempted by one common Intereft to enter into a Confederacy together, and how properly Sin is made the Portrefs of Hell, and the only Being that can open the Gates to that World of Tortures. The defcriptive Part of this Allegory is likewife very ftrong, and full of Sublime Ideas. The Figure of Death, [the Regal Crown upon his Head,] his Me- nace to Satan, his advancing to the Combat, the Out- cry at his Birth, are Circumflances too noble to be paft over in Silence, and extreamly fuitable to this King of Terrors. I need not mention the Juftnefs of Thought which is obferved in the Generation of thefe 66 CRITICISM OF BOOK II. feveral Symbolical Perfons; that Sin was produced upon the firfl Revolt of Satan, that Death appeared foon after he was caft into Hell, and that the Terrors of Confcience were conceived at the Gate of this Place of Torments. The Defcription of the Gates is very- poetical, as the opening of them is full oi Milton's Spirit. On afudden open fly' With impetuous recoil and jarring found Tti infernal doors ', and on their hinges grate Harfli Thunder, that the lowcfl bottom fJwok Of Erebus. She opeiid, buttofJiut ExcelPd her Power; the Gates wide open flood, That with extended wings a banner 'd Hoft Under fpread JEnfigns marching might pafs through With Horfe and Chariots raiiHd i?i loofe array ; So wide they flood, and like a furnace mouth Caft forth redounding f mo ak and ruddy flame. In Satan's Voyage through the Chaos there are feveral Imaginary Perfons defcribed,as refidinginthat immenfe Wafte of Matter. This may perhaps be conformable to the Tafle of thofe Criticks who are pleafed with nothing in a Poet which has not Life and Manners afcribed to it ; but for my own part, I am pleafed moil with thofe Paffages in this Defcription which carry in them a greater Meafure of Probability, and are luch as might poflibly have happened. Of this kind is his firfl mounting in the Smoak that rifes from the infernal Pit : his falling into a Cloud of Nitre, and the like combuflible Materials, that by their Explofion flill hurried him forward in his Voyage ; his fpringing upward like a Pyramid of Fire, with his laborious Paffage through that Con- fufion of Elements, which the Poet calls The Womb of Nature and perhaps her Grave. The Glimmering Light which fhot into the Chaos from the utmofl Verge of the Creation, with the diflant Difcovery of the Earth that hung clofe by the Moon, are wonderfully beautiful and poetical. Numb. CCCXV. The SPECTATOR. Nee deus interfit, nifi digitus vindiee nodus Inciderit Hor. {Never prefume to make a God appear, But for a Bufmefs worthy of a God. Rofcommon. } Saturday, March i, 17 12. OR A CE advifes a Poet to confider .tho- roughly the Nature and Force of his Genius. Milton feems to have known, perfectly well, wherein his Strength lay, and has therefore chofen a Subject entirely conformable to thofe Talents, of which he was Mailer. As his Genius was wonderfully turned to the Sublime, his Subject is the noblelt that could have entered into the Thoughts of Man. Every thing that is truly great and aftonifhing, has a place in it. The whole Syftem of the intellectual World ; the Chaos, and the Crea- tion ; Heaven, Earth and Hell ; enter into the Con- ftitution of his Poem. Having in the Firfl and Second Book reprefented the Infernal World with all its Horrours, the Thread of his Fable naturally leads him into the oppofite Regions of Blifs and Glory. If Milton's Majefly forfakes him any where, it is in thofe Parts of his Poem, where the Divine Perfons are introduced as Speakers. One may, I think, obferve that the Author proceeds with a kind of Fear and Trembling, whilft he defcribes the Sentiments of the Almighty. He dares not give his Imagination its full Play, but chufes to confine himfelf to fuch Thoughts as are drawn from the Books of the moft Orthodox Divines, and to fuch Expreffions as may be met with 68 CRITICISM OF BOOK III. in Scripture. The Beauties, therefore, which we are to look for in thefe Speeches, are not of a Poetical nature, or fo proper to fill the mind with Sentiments of Grandeur, as with Thoughts of Devotion. The Paffions, which they are defigned to raife, are a Divine Love and Religious Fear. The particular Beauty of the Speeches in the Third Book, confifls in that 1 Shortnefs and Perfpicuity of Stile, in which the Poet has couched the greateft Myfleries of Chriftianity, and drawn together, in a regular Scheme, the whole Dif- penfation of Providence, with refpect to Man. He has reprefented all the abflrufe Doctrines of Predefti- nation, Free-will and Grace, as alfo the great Points of Incarnation and Redemption, (which naturally grow up in a Poem that treats of the Fall of Man,) with great Energy of Expreffion, and in a clearer and ftronger Light than I ever met with in any other Writer. As thefe Points are dry in themfelves to the generality of Readers, the concife and clear manner in which he has treated them, is very much to be admired, as is likewife that particular Art which he has made ufe of in the interfperfmg of all thofe Graces of Poetry, which the Subject was capable of receiving. The Survey of the whole Creation, and of every thing that is tranfacted in it, is a Profpect worthy of Omnifcience ; and as much above that, in which Virgil has drawn his Jupiter, as the Chriftian Idea of the Supream Being is more rational and Sublime than that of the Heathens. The particular Objects on which he is defcribed to have caft his Eye, are repre- fented in the moft beautiful and lively manner. Now had tft Almighty Father from above. From the pure Empyrean where he fits High throrid above all height, bent down his Eye, His own Works and their Works at o?ice to view. About him all the Sanclities of Heav'n Stood thick as Stars, and from his Sight received CRITICISM OF BOOK III. 69 Beatitude pafl utterance: 0?i his right The radia7it image of his Glory fat, His only Son; On earth hefirfl beheld Oicr two firfl Parents ; yet the only two Of Mankind, in the happy garden plac'd, Reaping immortal fruits of Joy and love, Uninterrupted j oy , unrivaVd love, In blifsful Solitude; he then furvefd Hell and the Gulf between, and Satan there Coafling the Wall of Heaven on this fide night In the dun air ficb lime, and ready now To filoop with wearied wings, and willing feet On the bare outfide of this world, that fee m'd Firm land imbofom'd without fir mame?tt, Uncertain which, in Ocean or in Air, Him God beholding from his profpecl high, Wherein pafl, prefent, future he beholds, Thus to his only Son forefeeing fpake. Satan's Approach to the Confines of the Creation, is finely imaged in the beginning of the Speech, which immediately follows. The Effects of this Speech in the bleffed Spirits, and in the Divine Perfon,to whom it was addreffed, cannot but fill the Mind of the Reader with a fecret Pleafure and Complacency. Thus while God fpake, ambrofial 'fragrance fill } d All Heav'n, and in the bleffed Spirits elect Senje of new Joy ineffable diffus' d : Beyond compare the Son of God was feen Mofil glorious, in him all his Father fihone Subftantially exprefs'd; and in his face Divine Compaffion vifibly appeared, love without end, and without meafure Grace. I need not point out the Beauty of that Circumftance, wherein the whole Hoft of Angels are reprefented as {landing Mute ; nor fhew how proper the Occafion was to produce fuch a Silence in Heaven. The Clofe of this Divine Colloquy* with the Hymn of Angels JO CRITICISM OF BOOK III. that follows upon it, are fo wonderfully beautiful and poetical, that I fhould not forbear inferring the whole Paffage, if the bounds of my Paper would give me i leave. Nofooner had th? Ahnighty ceased, but all The mu Ititude of Angels with afJiout Loud as from numbers without number, fweet As from blefl Voices, uttering Joy, Heav'n rung . With Jubilee, and loud Hofamtds filVd Th' eternal regions ; &c. &c. Sata?i's Walk upon the Outfide of the Univerfe, which, at a Diftance, appeared to him of a globular Form, but, upon his nearer Approach, looked like an unbounded Plain, is natural and noble : As his roa m- ing upon the Frontiers of the Creation, between tl at Mafs of Matter, which was wrought into a World, and that fhapelefs unform'd Heap of Materials, which ftill lay in Chaos and Confufion, ftrikes the Imaginat ion with fomething aftonifhingly great and wild. I have before fpoken of the Limbo of Vanity, which the Poet places upon this outermofl Surface of the Univerfe, and mall here explain my felf more at large on that, and other Parts of the Poem, which are of the fame Shadowy nature. Ariflotle obferves, that the Fable of an Epic Poem mould abound in Circumflances that are both credible and aftonifhing : or as the French Critics chufe to phrafe it, the Fable fhould be rilled with the Probable and the Marvellous. This Rule is as fine and juft as any in Ariflotli% whole Art of Poetry. If the Fable is only probable, it differs nothing from a true Hiflory ; if it is only Marvellous, it is no better than a Romance. The great Secret therefore of Heroic Poetry is to relate fuch Circumflances, as may produce in the Reader at the fame time both Belief and Aftonifhment. This often happens [is brought to pafs] in a well chofen Fable, by the Account of fuch things as have really happened, or at leaft of fuch things as have CRITICISM OF BOOK III. 7 1 happen'd, according to the received Opinions of Mankind. Milton's Fable is a Mafter-piece of this Nature ; as the War in Heaven, the Condition of the fallen Angels, the State of Innocence, the Temptation of the Serpent, and the Fall of Man, though they are very aftonifhing in themfelves, are not only credible, but actual Points of Faith. The next Method of reconciling Miracles with Credibility, is by a happy Invention of the Poet ; as in particular, when he introduces Agents of a fuperior Nature, who are capable of effecting what is wonderful, and what is not to be met with in the ordinary courfe of things. Ulyffes's Ship being turned into a Rock, and ALneas\ Fleet into a Shoal of Water Nymphs, though they are very furprizing Accidents, are neverthelefs probable, when we are told that they were the Gods who thus transformed them. It is this kind of Machinery which fills the Poems both of Homer and Virgil with fuch Circumftances as are wonderful, but not impoffible, and fo frequently produce in the Reader the moil pleafmg Paffion that can rife in the Mind of Man, which is Admiration. If there be any Inflance in the ALneid liable to Exception upon this Account, it is in the beginning of the third Book, where Apneas is reprefented as tearing up the Myrtle that dropped Blood. To qualifie this wonderful Cir- cumflance, Polydorus tells a Story from the Root of the Myrtle, that the barbarous inhabitants of the Country having pierced him with Spears and Arrows, the Wood which was left in his Body took Root in his Wounds, and gave birth to that bleeding Tree. This Circumflance feems to have the Marvellous without the Probable, becaufe it is reprefented as pro- ceeding from Natural Caufes, without the Interpofition of any God, or rather Supernatural Power capable of producing it. The Spears and Arrows grow of them- felves, without fo much as the Modern help of an Enchantment. If we look into the Fiction of Milton's Fable, though we find it full of furprizing Incidents, 72 K CRITICISM OF BOOK IIL they are generally fuited to our Notions of the Things and Perfons defcribed, and temper'd with a due meafure of Probability. I mufl only make an Excep- tion to the Lymbo of Vanity, with his Epifode of Sin and Death, and fome of the imaginary Perfons in his Chaos. Thefe Paffages are aftonifhing, but not credible ; the Reader cannot fo far impofe upon him- felf as to fee a Poflibility in them; they are the Defcription of Dreams and Shadows, not of Things or Perfons. I know that many Critics look upon the Stories of Circe, Polyphcme, the Sirens, nay the whole Odyffey and Iliad, to be Allegories ; but allowing this to be true, they are Fables, which confidering the Opinions of Mankind that prevailed in the Age of the Poet, might pofiibly have been according to the Letter. The Perfons are fuch as might have ac~led what is afcribed to them, as the Circumflances in which they are reprefented, might poffibly have been Truths and Realities. This appearance of Probability is fo abfolutely requifite in the greater kinds of Poetry, that Ari/Iotle obferves the Ancient Tragick Writers made ufe of the Names of fuch great Men as had ac- tually lived in the World, tho' the Tragedy proceeded upon fuch Adventures they were never engaged in, on purpofe to make the Subject more Credible. In a Word, befides the hidden Meaning of an EpicAllegory, the plain literal Senfe ought to appear probable. The Story mould be fuch as an ordinary Reader may acquiefce in, whatever Natural Moral or Political Truth may be difcovered in it by Men of greater Penetration. Satan, after having long wandered upon the Surface, or outmoft Wall of the Univerfe, difcovers at lafl a wide Gap in it, which led into the Creation, and which* is defcribed as the Opening through which the Angels pafs to and fro into the lower World, upon their Errands to Mankind. His Sitting upon the brink of this Paffage, and taking a Survey of the whole Face of Nature that appeared to him new and frefh in all its CRITICISM OF BOOK III. 73 Beauties, with the Simile illuftrating this Circumftance. fills the Mind of the Reader with as furprifing and glorious an Idea as any that arifes in the whole Poem. He looks down into that vail hollow of the Univerfe with the Eye, or (as Milton calls it in his firft Book) with the Kenn of an Angel. He furveys all the Wonders in this immenfe Amphitheatre that lie between both the Poles of Heaven, and takes in at one View the whole Round of the Creation. His Flight between the feveral Worlds that mined on every fide of him, with the particular Defcription of the Sun, are fet forth in all the wantonnefs of a luxuriant Imagination. His Shape, Speech and Beha- viour upon his transforming himfelf into an Angel of Light, are touched with exquifite Beauty. The Poet's Thought of directing Satan to the Sun, which in the Vulgar Opinion of Mankind is the moft confpicuous Part of the Creation, and the placing in it an Angel, is a Circumftance very finely contriv'd, and the more adjufled to a Poetical Probability, as it was a receiv'd Doctrine among the moft famous Philofophers, that every Orb had its Intelligence \ and as an Apoftle in Sacred Writ is faid to have feen fuch an Angel in the Sun. In the Anfwer which this Angel returns to the difguifed Evil Spirit, there is fuch a becoming Majefty as is altogether fuitable to a Superior Being. The part of it in which he reprefents himfelf as prefent at the Creation, is very noble in it felf, and not only proper where it is introduced, but requifite to prepare the Reader for what follows in the Seventh Book. I faw when at his word theformlefs Mafs, This worlds material mould, came to a heap : Confufwn heard his voice, and wild uproar Stood ruPd, flood vail infinitude confirtd; Till at his fecond bidding darknefs fled, light fhon, &c. In the following part of the Speech he points out the Earth with fuch Circumftances, that the Reader 74 CRITICISM OF BOOK III. can fcarce forbear fancying himfelf employ'd on the fame diftant view of it. Look downward on that Globe, whofe hither fide With light from hence, tho' but ?'eficcled, fJiines ; That place is Earth, the Seat of man, that light His day, &c. I muft not conclude my Reflections upon this Third Book of Paradife Loft, without taking notice of that celebrated Complaint of Milton with which it opens, and which certainly deferves all the Praifes that have been given it ; tho' as I have before hinted, it may rather be looked upon as an Excrefcence, than as an effential Part of the Poem. The fame Obfervation might be applied to that beautiful Digreffion upon Hypocriiie, in the fame Book. Numb. CCCXXI. The SPECTATOR. Nee fatis eft pulchra effe poemata, dulcia fiinto. Hor. VTis not enough a Poem } s finely writ; It nuift ajfeel and captivate the Soul. } Saturday, March 8. 17 12. |HOSE, who know how many Volumes have been written on the Poems of Homer and Virgil, will ealily pardon the Length of my Difcourfe upon Milton. The Paradife Loft is look'd upon, by the befl Judges, as the greatefl Production, or at leaf! the nobleft Work of Genius, in our Language, and therefore deferves to be fet before an Englifti Reader in its full Beauty. For this Reafon, tho' I have endeavoured to give a general Idea of its Graces and Imperfections in my Six Firft Papers, I thought my felf obliged to beftow one upon every Book in particular. The Three Firft Books I have already difpatched, and am now entring upon the Fourth. I need not acquaint my Reader, that there are Multitudes of Beauties in this great Author, efpecially in the Defcriptive Parts of his Poem, which I have not touched upon, it being my Intention to point out thofe only, which appear to me the moil exquifite, or thofe which are not fo obvious to ordinary Readers. Every one that has read the Cri ticks, who have written upon the Odyffey, the Iliad and the ALneid, knows very well, that though they agree in their Opinions of the great Beau- ties in thofe Poems, they have neverthelefs each of them difcovered feveral Mafter-Stroaks, which have efcaped the Obfervation of the reft. In the fame manner, I queftion not, but any Writer, who fhall treat of this Subject after me, may find feveral Beauties in Milton, 76 CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. which I have not taken notice of. I mufl likewife ob- ferve, that as the greateft Mailers of Critical Learning differ from one another, as to fome particular Points in an Epic Poem, I have not bound my felf fcrupuloufly to the Rules, which any one of them has laid down upon that Art, but have taken the Liberty fometimes to join with one, and fometimes with another, and fometimes to differ from all of them, when I have thought that the Reafon of the thing was on my fide. We may confider the Beauties of the Fourth Book under three Heads. In the Firft are thofe Pictures of Still-Life, which we meet with in the Defcriptions of Eden, Paradife, Adam's Bower, &°c. In the next are the Machines, which comprehend the Speeches and Beha- viour of the good and bad Angels. In the laft is the Conduct of Adam zndEve, who are the principal Actors in the Poem. In the Defcription of Paradife, the Poet has obferved Ariflotle's Rule of lavifhing all the Ornaments of Diction on the weak unactive Parts of the Fable, which are not fupported by the Beauty of Sentiments and Characters. Accordingly the Reader may obferve, that the Expref- fions are more florid and elaborate in thefe Defcriptions, than in mo ft other Parts of the Poem. I muft further add, that tho' the Drawings of Gardens, Rivers, Rainbows, and the like dead Pieces of Nature, are juftly cenfured in an Heroic Poem, when they run out into an unneceffary length ; the Defcription of Para- dife would have been faulty, had not the Poet been very particular in it, not only as it is the Scene of the prin- cipal Action, but as it is requifite to give us an Idea of that Happinefs from which our firft Parents fell. The Plan of it is wonderfully beautiful, and formed upon the fhort Sketch which we have of it, in Holy Writ. Miltoits Exuberance of Imagination, has pour'd forth fuch a redundancy of Ornaments on this Seat of Happinefs and Innocence, that it would be endlefs to point out each Particular. I. muft not quit this Head, without further obferving, CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. 77 that there is fcarce a Speech of Adam or Eve in the whole Poem, wherein the Sentiments and Allufions are not taken from this their delightful Habitation. The Reader, during their whole Courfe of Action, always finds himfelf in the Walks of Paradije. In fhort, as the Criticks have remarked, that in thofe Poems, wherein Shepherds are Actors, the Thoughts ought always to take a Tincture from the Woods, Fields, and Rivers ; fo we may obferve, that our firfl Parents fel- donl lofe Sight of their happy Station in any thing they fpeak or do ; and, if the Reader will give me leave to ufe the Expreffion, that their Thoughts are always Paradifiacal. We are in the next place to confider the Machines of the Fourth Book. Satan being now within Prof- peel; of Eden, and looking round upon the Glories of the Creation, is filled with Sentiments different from thofe which he difcovered whilfl he was in Hell. The Place infpires him with Thoughts more adapted to it : He reflects upon the happy Condition from whence he fell, and breaks forth into a Speech that is foftned with feveral tranfient Touches of Remorfe and Self- accufation : But at length he confirms himfelf in Im- penitence, and in his defign of drawing Man into his own State of Guilt and Mifery. This Conflict of Paffions is raifed with a great deal of Art, as the open- ing of his Speech to the Sun is very bold and noble. O thou that with furpqffing Glory crowned Look' ft from thy Sole Dominion like the God Of this new World, at whofe Sight all the Stars Hide their diminiftid heads, to thee I call But with no Friendly Voice, and add thy name, Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams That bring to my remembrance from what State 1 fell, how glorious once above thy Sphere. This Speech is, I think, the fineft that is afcribed to Satan in the whole Poem. The Evil Spirit after- wards proceeds to make his Difcoveries concerning %S CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. our firft Parents, and to learn after what manner they may be beft attacked. His bounding over the Walls of Paradife \ his fitting in the Shape of a Cormorant upon the Tree of Life, which flood in the Center of it, and over- topp'd all the other Trees of the Garden; his alighting among the Herd of Animals, which are fo beautifully reprefented as playing about Adam and Eve, together with his transforming himfelf into different Shapes, in order to hear their Converfation ; are Cir- cumflances that give an agreeable Surprize to the Reader, and are devifed with great Art, to connect that Series of Adventures in which the Poet has engaged this great Artificer of Fraud. [The Thought of Sata/i's Transformation into a Cor- morant, and placing himfelf on the Tree of Life, feems raifed upon that Paffage in the Iliad, where two Deities are defcribed, as perching on the Top of an Oak in the Shape of Vulturs.] His planting himfelf at the Ear of Eve in the fhape [under the Form] of a Toad, in order to produce vain Dreams and Imaginations, is a Circumftance of the fame Nature ; as his flarting up in his own Form is won- derfully fine, both in the Literal Defcription, and in the Moral which is concealed under it. His Anfwer upon his being difcovered, and demanded to give an Account of himfelf, are [is] conformable to the Pride and Intre- pidity of his Character. Know ye not then, /aid Satan, filPd with Scorn, Know ye not me ? ye knew me once no mate For y oil, fitting where you durjl not f oar e; Not to know me argues your-f elves unknown. The lowejl of your throng; Zephoris Rebuke, with the Influence it had on Satan, is exquifitely Graceful and Moral. Satan is afterwards led away to Gabriel, the chief of the Guardian Angels, who kept watch in Paradife. His difdainful Behaviour on this occafion is fo remarkable a Beauty, that the mofl ordinary Reader cannot but take notice of it. CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. 79 Gabriel's difcovering his approach at adiftance,isdrawn with great flrength and livelinefs of Imagination. Friends ) I hear the tread of nimble Feet Hajlening this way, and now by glimps difcern Ithuriel and Zephon through thejhade; And with them comes a third of Regal Fort, But faded fplendor wan ; who by his gait And fierce demeanour feems the Prince of Hell, Not likely to part hence without contefl; Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours. The Conference between Gabriel and Satan abounds with Sentiments proper for the Occafion, and fuitable to the Perfons of the two Speakers. Satan's cloathing himfelf with Terror when he prepares for the Combat is truly fublime, and at leaft equal to Homer's Defcrip- tion of Difcord celebrated by Longinus, or to that of Fame in Virgil, who are both reprefented with their Feet Handing upon the Earth, and their Heads reach- ing above the Clouds. While thus he f pake, th' Angelic Squadron bright Turn' d fiery red, fliarpning in mooned Horns Their Phalanx, and began to hem him roimd With ported Spears, &c. On th' other Side, Satan alarm' d, Collecting all his might dilated flood Like TenerirT or Atlas unremov'd. His Staticre reach 'd the Sky, and on his Crefl Sat horrour plum 'd ; 1 muft here take notice, that Milton is every where full of Hints, and fometimes literal Tranflations, taken from the greateft of the Greek and Latin Poets. But this I fhall [may] referve for a Difcourfe by it felf, be- caufe I would not break the Thread of thefe Specula- tions that are defigned for Fnglifh Readers, with such Reflections as would be of no ufe but to the Learned. I muft however obferve in this Place, that the break- ing off the Combat between Gabriel 'and Satan, by the So CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. hanging out of the Golden Scales in Heaven, is a Re- finement upon Homer's Thought, who tells us, that before the Battel between Heclor and Achilles, Jupiter weighed the Event of it in a pair of Scales. The Reader may fee the whole Paffage in the 2 2d Iliad. Virgil, before the lail decifive Combat, defcribes Jupiter in the fame manner, as weighing the Fates of Turnus and Apneas. Milton, though he fetched this beautiful Circumflance from the Iliad and JEneid, does not only infert it as a Poetical Embellifhment, like the Authors above-mentioned ; but makes an artful ufe of it for the proper carrying on of his Fable, and for the breaking off the Combat between the two Warriors, who were upon the point of engaging. [To this we may further add, that Milton is the more juflified in this Paffage, as we find the fame noble Allegory in Holy Writ, where a wicked Prince, {fome few Hours before he was affaulted and llain,} is faid to have been weigtid i?i the Scales a?id to have been Jound wanting.] I mull here take Notice under the Head of the Machines, that Uriels, gliding down to the Earth upon a Sun-beam, with the Poet's Device to make him dcfcend, as well in his return to the Sun, as in his coming from it, is a Prettinefs that might have been admired in a little fanciful Poet, but feems below the Genius of Milton. The Defcription of the Hofl of armed Angels walking their nightly Round in Paradije, is of another Spirit. So Jciying, on he led his radiant files, Dazling the Moon; ■ As that Account of the Hymns which our firft Parents ufed to hear them Sing in thefe their Midnight Walks, is altogether Divine, and inexpreffibly amufing to the Imagination. We are, in the lafl place, to confider the Parts which Adam and Eve ac~l in the Fourth Book. The Defcription of them as they firfl appear'd to Satan, is CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. 8 1 exquifitely drawn, and fufficient to make the fallen Angel gaze upon them with all that Aftonifhment, and thofe Emotions of Envy, in which he is reprefented. Two of far ?ioblcr Shape erecl: and tall God-like erecl, with native honour clad J 7t naked majefly feenid lords of 'ah \ And worthy feem'd, for in their looks divine The image of their glorious Maker Jlion, Truth, Wifdom, Sanclitude fever e and pure; Severe, but in true filial freedoni plac'd : For contemplation he and valour form' d, For scftnefs flie and fweet attractive Grace; He for God only, flie for God in him: His fair large front, and eyefublime declared * Abfolute rule, and Hyacinthin Locks Round from his parted forelock many hung Cluflring, but not beneath his Shoulders broad: She as a Vail dow?i to her flender wafle Her unadorned golden treffes vvore DiffheveVd, but in wanton ringlets watfd. So pafs'd they riaked on, nor fliwjd the Sight , Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill: So hand in hand they pafs'd, the loveliefl pair That ever fence in loves embraces met. There is a fine Spirit of Poetry in the Lines which follow, wherein they are defcrib'd as fitting on a Bed of Flowers by the side of a Fountain, amidfl a mixed Affembly of Animals. The Speeches of thefe two firft Lovers flow equally from Paffion and Sincerity. The Profeffions they make to one another are full of Warmth ; but at the fame time founded on Truth. In a Word, they are me Gallantries of Paradife. — When Adam firfl of Men Sole Partner and fole part of all thefe joys % Dearer thy f elf than all ; But let us ever praife him, and extol His bounty, following our delightful task, F %2 CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. To prune thofe growing plants ', a?id tend thefe flower s, Which were it toilfome, yet with thee werefweet. To whom thus Eve replied : O thou for whom And from whom 1 was form } d, flefJi of thy flefli, And without whom am to no end, my Guide And head, what thou hafl fa id is j lift and right For we to him indeed all praifes owe, And daily thanks, I chiefly who enjoy So far the happier Lot, enjoying thee Preemiiwit by fo much odds, while thou Like confort to thy felf canfl no where find, &c. The remaining part of Jive's Speech, in which me gives an Account of her felf upon her firft Creation, and the manner in which fhe was brought to Adam, is I think as beautiful a Paffage as any in Milton, or perhaps in any other Poet whatfoever. Thefe Paffages are all work'd off with fo much Art, that they are capable of pleafmg the moft delicate Reader, without offending the moil fevere. That day Loft remember, when from Sleep, &c. A Poet of lefs Judgment and Invention than this great Author, would have found it very difficult to have rilled thofe [thefe] tender parts of the Poem with Senti- ments proper for a State of Innocence ; to have de- fcribed the warmth of Love, and the Profefhons of it, without Artifice or Hyperbole ; to have made the Man fpeak the moft endearing things, without defcending from his natural Dignity, and the Woman receiving them without departing from the Modefty of her Character; in a word, to adjuft the Prerogatives of Wifdom and Beauty, and make each appear to the other in its proper Force and Lovelinefs. This mutual Subordination of the two Sexes is wonderfully kept up in the whole Poem, as particularly in the Speech of Eve I have before-mentioned, and upon the Con- clufion of it in the following Lines : — So fpake our general Mother, and with eyes Of Conjugal attraclion unreprov'd, CRITICISM OF BOOK IV. S3 And meek surre?ider, half embracing leaned On our firft father, half her fw effing breafl Naked met his under the flowing Gold Of her loofe trejfes hid; he in delight Both of her beauty and fubmiffive charms SmiFd with Superionr Love, The Poet adds, that the Devil turn'd away with Envy at the fight of fo much Happinefs. We have another View of our Firft Parents in their Evening Difcourfes, which is full of pleafmg Images and Sentiments fuitable to their Condition and Cha- racters. The Speech of Eve, in particular, is drefs'd up in such a foft and natural Turn of Words and Sentiments, as cannot be fufficiently admired. I mail clofe my Reflections upon this Book, with obferving the Mailerly Tranfition which the Poet makes to their Evening Worfhip, in the followingLines : — Thus at their fliadie lodge arrived, both flood, Both turn'd, and under open Sky ador'd The God that made both Sky, Air, Earth and Heav'n, Which they beheld, the Moons refplendeyit Globe, And Starry Pole: Thou alfo mad'ft the night, Maker omnipotent and thou the Day, &*c. Moil of the Modern Heroic Poets have imitated the Ancients, in beginning a Speech without premifmg, that the Perfon faid thus or thus ; but as it is eafie to imitate the Ancients in the Omiffion of two or three Words, it requires Judgment to do it in fuch a man- ner as they mail not be mifs'd, and that the Speech may begin naturally without them. There is a fine Inflance of this Kind out of Homer, in the Twenty- Third Chapter of Longinus. Numb. CCCXXVIL The SPECTATOR. major rerum mihi nafcitur or do. Virg. {A larger Scene of Aclion is difplayd. Dryden.} Saturday, March 15, 17 12. BE were told in the foregoing Book how the Evil Spirit practifed upon Eve as fhe lay afleep, in order to infpire her with Thoughts of Vanity, Pride and Ambition. The Author, who mews a wonderful Art throughout his whole Poem, in preparing the Reader for the feveral Occurrences that arife in it, founds upon, the above-mentioned Circumflance the firfl part of the Fifth Book. Adam upon his awaking, finds Eve ftill afleep, with an unufual Difcompofure in her Looks. The Poflure in which he regards her, is defcribed with a wonderful Tendernefs [not to be expreffed*]f ,as the Whifperwith which he awakens her, is the fofteft that ever was conveyed to a Lover's Ears His wonder was to find unwakeiid Eve With Treffes difcomposd and glowing cheek As through unquiet reft: he 011 his side Leaning half raised, with looks of cordial love Hung over her enamoured, and beheld Beaitty, which whether waking or afleep, Shot forth peculiar Graces ; then with voice Mild, as when Zephyrus or Flora breathes, Her hand foft touching, whifper'd thus. Awake My fair eft, my efpous'd, my latefil found, Heav'ns lafil befil gift, my ever new delight, Awake, the morning fhi7ies, and the frefli field + See Errata, at the end of No. 369, in the original issue CRITICISM OF BOOK V. 85 Calls us, we lofe the prime, to mark how fpring Our tended plants, how blows the Citron Grove, What drops the Myrrhe, and what the balmie Reed, How Nature paints her colours, how the Bee Sits on the bloom, extracli?tg liquid fweet. Such whifpring wak'd her, but withflartled Eye, On Adam, whom embracing thus Jhe fpake. O Sole in whom my thoughts find all repoje, My Glory, my perfection, glad I fee Thy face, and morn return 'd I cannot but take notice that Milton, in his Con- ferences between Adam and Eve, had his Eye very frequently upon the Book of Canticles, in which there is a noble Spirit of Eaftern Poetry, and very often not unlike what we meet with in Homer, who is gene- rally placed near the Age of Solomon. I think there is no queftion but the Poet in the preceding Speech ,remembred thofe two Paffages which are Jfpoken on the like occafion, and fill'd with the fame pleafmg Images of Nature. My beloved fpake, and f aid unto me, Rife up, my love, my fair one, and conie away ; For lo, the winter is pafil, the rain is over and gone; the Flowers appear on the earth; the time of the finging of birds is come, and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land. The Fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the Vines with the~ tender grape give a good fmell. Arife, my love, my fair one, and come away. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the Field; let us get up early to the Vineyards, let us fee if the Vine fiourifh, whether the te?ider Grape appear, and the Pomegranates bud forth. His preferring the Garden of Eden to that Where the Sapient King Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian Spoufe, (hews that the Poet had this delightful Scene in his Mind. 86 CRITICISM OF BOOK V. Eve's Dream is full of thofe high Conceits engendrin^ Pride, which we are told the Devil endeavoured to inftil into her. Of this kind is that part of it where fhe fancies her felf awaken'd by Adam in the follow- ing beautiful Lines. Why fleeftjl thou, Eve ? now is the p leaf ant time, The cool, the ftlent, fave where f Hence yields To the night-warbling bird, that now awake Tunes fweetejl his Love-labour 'd song; now reigns Full orVd the moon, and with more pleafing light Shadowy fets off the face of tlmigs ; in vain If none regard; Ileav'n wakes with all his eyes, Whom to behold but thee, Natures defire, In whofe fight all things joy, with ravifJiment Attracled by thy beauty fl ill to gaze. An injudicious Poet would have made Adam talk through the whole Work, in fuch Sentiments as this [thefe]. But Flattery and Falfhood are not the Courtlhip of Milton's Adam, and cou'd not be heard by Eve in her State of Innocence, excepting only in a Dream produced on purpofe to taint her Imagination. Other vain Sentiments of the fame kind in this relation of her Dream, will be obvious to every Reader. Tho' the Cataftrophe of the Poem is finely prefaged on this occafion, the Particulars of it are fo artfully (hadow'd, that they do not anticipate the Story which follows in the Ninth Book. I mail only add, that tho' the Vifion it felf is founded upon Truth, the Circumflances of it are full of that Wildnefs and In- confiftency which are natural to a Dream. Adam, conformable to his fuperior Character for Wifdom, inftruc~ls and comforts Eve upon this occafion. So chear'd he his fair Spoufe, and fhe was chear'd, But f dent ly a gentle tear let fall Fi'om either eye, and wiped them with her hair; Two other precious drops that ready flood, Each in their chryflal fluke, he e'er they fell CRITICISM OF BOOK V. 87 Kifsd as the gracious Signs of fweet remorfe And pious awe, that feared to have offended. The Morning Hymn is written in Imitation of one of thofe Pfalms, where, in the Overflowings of his Grati- tude and Praife, the Pfalmift calls not only upon the Angels, but upon the moft confpicuous parts of the inanimate Creation, to join with him in extolling their Common Maker. Invocations of this Nature fill the Mind with glorious Ideas of God's Works, and awaken that Divine Enthufiafm, which is fo natural to Devotion. But if this calling upon the dead parts of Nature, is at all times a proper kind of Worfhip, it was in a particular manner fuitable to our firfl Parents, who had the Creation frefh upon their Minds, and had not feen the various Difpenfations of Providence, nor confequently could be acquainted with thofe many Topicks of Praife which might afford matter to the Devotions of their Pofterity. I need not remark that* [the] beautiful Spirit of Poetry which runs through this whole Hymn, nor the Holinefs of that Refolution with which it concludes. Having already mentioned thofe Speeches which are affigned to the Perfons in this Poem, I proceed to the Defcription which the Poet gives us* of Raphael. His Departure from before the Throne, and his Flight thro ? the Quires [Choirs] of Angels, is finely imaged. As Milton every where fills his Poem with Circumltances that are marvellous and aflonilhing, he defcribes the Gate of Heaven as framed after fuch a manner, that it open'd of it felf upon the approach of the Angel who was to pafs through it Hill at the gate Of Heav'n arrived, the gate felf open 'd wide. On golden Hinges turning, as by work Divine the Sovereign Architecl hadfi'anHd. The Poet here feems to have regarded two or three Paffages in the eighteenth Iliad, as that in particu- 55 . CRITICISM OF BOOK V. lar where, fpeaking of Vulcan, Homer fays, that he had made Twenty Tripodes, running on Golden Wheels, which, upon Occafion, might go of themfelves to the Affembly of the Gods, and, when there was no more ufe for them, return again after the fame manner. Scali- ger has rallied Homer very feverely upon this Point, as Monf. Dacier has endeavoured to defend it. I will not pretend to determine, whether in this Particular of Homer, the Marvellous does not lofe sight of the Probable. As the miraculous Workmanfhip of Mil- torts Gates is not fo extraordinary as this of the Tri- podes, fo I am perfwaded he would not have men- tioned it, had not he been fupported in it by a Paffage in the Scripture, which fpeaks of Wheels in Heaven that had Life in them, and moved of themfelves, or flood ftill, in Conformity with the Cherubims, whom they accompanied. There is no queftion but Milton had this Circum- flance in his Thoughts, becaufe in the following Book he defcribes the Chariot of the Meffiah with living Wheels, according to the Plan in EzekieVs Vifion. Forth rufrtd with whirlwind found The Chariot of Paternal Deity, Flafhing thick flames, wheel within wheel undrawn. It felf infli7icl with Spirit I queftion not but Bojfu, and the two Daciers, who are for vindicating every thing that is cenfured in Homer, by fomething Parallel in Holy Writ, would have been very well pleafed had they thought of con- fronting Vulcarts Tripodes with EzekieVs Wheels. Raphael's Defcent to the Earth, with the Figure of his Perfon, is reprefented in very lively Colours. Several of the French, Italian, and EnglitJi Poets have given a loofe to their Imaginations in the Defcription of Angels : But I do not remember to have met with any, fo finely drawn and fo conformable to the Notions which are given of them in Scripture, as this in Milton. After having fet him forth in all his Heavenly Plumage, CRITICISM OF BOOK V. 89 and reprefented him as alighting upon the Earth, the Poet concludes his Defcription with a Circumftance, which is altogether new, and imagined with the great- er! Strength of Fancy. Like Maia'j Son he flood, And/hook his plumes, that Heav' nly fragrance filF d The Circuit wide Raphael's Reception by the Guardian Angels ; his palling through the Wildernefs of Sweets ; his diftant Appearance to Adam, have- all the Graces that Poetry is capable of bellowing. The Author afterwards gives us a particular Defcription of Eve in her Domeftick Employments. So faying, with difp at chful looks in hafle She turns, on hofpitable thoughts i7itent, What choice to chufefor delicacy befl, What order, fo contrived as not to mix- Tafles, not welljoyn'd, inelegant, but bring Tafle after Tafle, upheld with kihdliefl change; Beflirs her then &c.- Though in this, and other Parts of the fame Book, the Subject is only the Houfewifry of our Firfl Parent, it is fet off with fo many pleafing Images and ftrong Expreffions, as make it none of the leaft agreeable Parts in this Divine Work. The natural Majefty of Adam, and at the fame time his fubmiffive Behaviour to the Superiour Being, who had vouchfafed to be his Gueft ; the folemn Hail which the Angel bellows on the Mother of Mankind, with the Figure of Eve miniftring at the Table, are Circumftances which deferve to be adrmYd. Raphael's Behaviour is every way fuitable to the dignity of his Nature, and to that Character of a sociable Spirit, with which the Author has fo judi- ciouily introduced him. He had received Inftruclions to converfe with Adam, as one Friend converles with another, and to warn him of the Enemy, who was contriving his Deftruclion : Accordingly he is repre- 90 CRITICISM OF BOOK V. fented as fitting down at Table with Adam, and eating of the Fruits of Paradife. The Occafion natu- rally leads him to his Difcourfe on the Food of Angels. After having thus entered into Converfation with Man upon more indifferent Subjects, he warns him of his Obedience, and makes a natural Tranfition to the Hiflory of that fallen Angel, who was employed in the Circumvention of our Firfl Parents. Had I followed Monfieur Boffifs Method in my Firfl Paper on Milton, I mould have dated the Action of Paradife Lojl from the Beginning of Raphael's Speech in this Book, as he fuppofes the Action of the Aineid to begin in the fecond Book of that Poem. I could alledge many Reafons for my drawing the Ac- tion of the s£neid, rather from its immediate Begin- ning in the firfl Book, than from its remote Begin- ning in the Second, and fhew why I have confidered the Sacking of Troy as an Epifode, according to the common Acceptation of that Word. But as this would be a dry uiventertaining Piece of Criticifm, and • perhaps unneceffary to thofe who have read my Firfl Paper, I fhall not enlarge upon it. Which-ever of the Notions be true, the Unity of Milton's Action is pre- ferred according to either of them ; whether we con- fider the Fall of Man in its immediate Beginning, as proceeding from the Refolutions taken in the Infernal Council, or in its more remote Beginning, as proceed- ing from the Firfl Revolt of the Angels in Heaven. The Occafion which Milto?i affigns for this Revolt, as it is founded on Hints in Holy Writ, and on the Opinion of fome great Writers, fo it was the mofl pro- per that the Poet could have made ufe of. The Revolt in Heaven is defcribed with great Force of Imagination [Indignation], and a fine Variety of Circumflances. The Learned Reader cannot but be pleafed with the Poet's Imitation of Homer in the lafl of the following Lines. At length into the limits of the North They came, and Satan took his Royal Seat CRITICISM OF BOOK V. 91 High on a hill, far blazing, as a mount Raised on a Mount, with Pyramids and touPrs From Diamond quarries hewn, and rocks of Gold The palace of great Lucifer (fo call That flruclure in the Dialecl of men Interpreted) Homer mentions Perfons and Things, which he tells us in the Language of the Gods are call'd by different Names from thofe they go by in the Language of Men. Milton has imitated him with his ufual Judgment in this particular place, wherein he has likewife the Autho- rity of Scripture to juflify him. The part of Abdiel, who was the only Spirit that in this Infinite Hoft of Angels preferved his Allegiance to his Maker, exhibits to us a noble Moral of religious Singularity. The Zeal of the Seraphim breaks forth in a becoming Warmth of Sentiments and Exprefiions, as the Cha- racter which is given us of him denotes that generous Scorn and Intrepidity which attends Heroic Virtue. The Author, doubtlefs, defigned it as a Pattern to thofe who live among Mankind in their prefent State of De- generacy and Corruption. So fpake the Seraph Abdiel faithful 'found, Among the fait J defs, faithful only he; Among innumerable falfe, unmovd, Unfliaken, wifeduc'd, tmterriffd; His Loyalty he kept, his Love, his Zeal: Nor Number, nor example with him wrought To fwerve from t?-uth, or change his conflant mind Though Single, From amidfl them forth he pafs'd, Long way through hoflile Scorn, which he fiflain'd Superior, nor of violence fear 'd ought; And with retorted Scorn his back he turned On thofe proud TowWs to fwift Deflruclion doomd. Numb. CCCXXXIII. The SPECTATOR. vocat in Certamina Divos. Vim. &• {He calls embattled Deities to Arms.} Saturday, March 22, 17 12. jjE are now entering upon the Sixth Book of Paradife Loft, in which the Poet de- fcribes the Battel of Angels; having raifed his Reader's Expectation, and prepared him for it by feveral Paffages in the pre- ceding Books. I omitted quoting thefe Paffages in my Obfervations on the former Books, having pur- pofely referved them for the opening of this, the Sub- ject of which gave occafion to them. The Author's Imagination was fo inflamed with this great Scene of Action, that wher-ever he fpeaks of it, he rifes, if pot fible, above himfelf. Thus where he mentions Satan in the beginning of his Poem. -Him the Almighty Power HurVd headlong flaming from tK Ethereal Side, With hideous ruin and combuftion down To bottomlefs perdition, there to dwell In Adamaiitine Chains and penal fire, \ Who durft defie tli Omnipotent to Arms. We have likewife feveral noble Hints of it in the In- fernal Conference. O Prince, O Chief of many throned Powers That led th 1 imbatteVd Seraphim to War, Too well I jee and rue the dire event, That with fad overthrow and foul defeat Hath loft us Heaven, and all this mighty hofl CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. 93 In horrible definition laid thus low. But fee the angry viclor hath recalFd His Minijlers of Vengeance and pur fiat Back to the Gates of Heav'n : 2 he Sulphurous hail, Shot after us in Storm, overblown hath laid The fiery Surge, thatfro?n the precipice Of Heai? 71 received its falling, and the thimder Winged with red lightning a7id impetuous rage, Perhaps hath fpe?it his Shafts, and ceafes now To bellow through the vafl and boundlefs deep. There are feveral other very Sublime Images on the fame Subject in the Firft Book, as alfo in the Second. What when we fled amain, purfiid andflrook With Heav'ns affliding Thimder, a?id bef ought The deep to fhelter us; this Hell then feem' d A refuge from thofe wounds In fhort, the Poet never mentions any thing of this Battel but in fuch Images of Greatnefs and Terrour, as are fuitable to the Subject. Among feveral others, I cannot forbear quoting that Paffage where the Power, who is defcrib'd as prefiding over the Chaos, fpeaks in the Third Book. Thus Satan ; and him thus the Anarch old With faultring fpeech and vifage incompos 1 d, Anfwer'd, I know thee, stranger, who thou art, That mighty leading Angel, who of late Made head againfl Heav'ns King, though overthrow?!. I faw and heard, for fuch a numerous hofl Fled not in Silence through the frighted deep With ruin upon rum, rout on rout, Confufion worfe co?ifounded ; and Heav'ns Gates Pour'd out by Millions her viclorious bands Purfuing It required great Pregnancy of Invention, and Strength of Imagination, to fill this Battel with fuch Circumflances as mould raife and aftonilh the Mind of the Reader ; and, at the fame time, an exactnefs 94 CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. of Judgment to avoid every thing that might appear light or trivial. Thofe, who look into Homer, are fur- prifed to find his Battels Hill rifmg one above another, and improving in Horrour, to the Conclufion of the Iliad. Milton's Fight of Angels is wrought up with the fame Beauty. It is ufhered in with fuch Signs of Wrath as are fuitable to Omnipotence incenfed. The Firft Engagement is carried on under a Cope of Fire, occafion'd by the Flights of innumerable burn- ing Darts and Arrows, which are difcharged from either Hoft. The fecond Onfet is ftill more terrible, as it is filled with thofe artificial Thunders, which feem to make the Victory doubtful, and produce a kind of Conflernation, even in the Good Angels. This is fol- lowed by the tearing up of Mountains and Promon- tories ; till, in the lafl place, the Mefliah comes forth in the fulnefs of Majefly and Terrour. The Pomp of his Appearance, amidft the Roarings of his Thunders, the Flames of his Lightnings, and the Noife of his Chariot Wheels, is defcribed with the utmofl Flights of Human Imagination. There is nothing in the firft and lafl Days Engage- ment, which does not appear natural and agreeable enough to the Ideas moil Readers would conceive of a Fight between two Armies of Angels. ' -he Second Day's Engagement is apt to ftartle an Imagination, which has not been railed and qualified for fuch a Defcription, by the reading of the Ancient Poets, and of Homer in particular. It was certainly a very bold Thought in our 'Author, to afcribe the firft ufe of _ Artillery to the Rebel Angels. But as fuch a pernicious Invention may be well fuppofed to have proceeded from fuch Authors, fo it entered very properly into the Thoughts of that Being, who is all along defcribed as afpiring to the Majefty of his Maker. Such Engines were the only Inftruments he could have made ufe of to imitate thofe Thunders, that in all Poetry, both Sacred and Prophane, are repre- fented as the Arms of the Almighty. The tearing up / ■ CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. 95 the Hills was not altogether fo daring a Thought as the former. We are, in fome meafure, prepared for fuch an Incident by the Defcription of the Gyants War, which we meet with among the Ancient Poets. What flill made this Circumftance the more proper for the Poets ufe, is the Opinion of many learned Men, that the Fable of the Gyants War, which makes fo great a Noife in Antiquity, [and gave Birth to the fublimefl Defcription in He/tod's Works,] was an Alle- gory founded upon this very Tradition of a Fight between the good and bad Angels. It may, perhaps, be worth while to confider with what Judgment Milton, in this Narration, has avoided every thing that is mean and trivial in the Defcriptions of the Latin and Greek Poets; and, at the fame time, improved every great Hint which he met with in their Works upon this Subject. Homer in that Paffage, which Longinus has celebrated for its Sublimenefs, and which Virgil and Ovid have copied after him, tells us, that the Gyants threw Offa upon Olympics, and Pelion upon Offa. He adds an Epithet to Pelion (dvoaityvXXov) which very much fwells the Idea, by bringing up to the Reader's Imagination all the Woods that grew upon it. There is further a great Beauty in his ting- ling out by Name thefe three remarkable Mountains fo well known to the Greeks. This laft is fuch a Beauty as the Scene of Milton's War could not poffibly furnifh him with. Claudian in his Fragment upon the Gyants War, has given full Scope to that wildnefs of Imagination which was natural to him. He tells us, that the Gyants tore up whole Iflands by the Roots, and threw them at the Gods. He defcribes one of them in particular taking up Lemnos in his Arms, and whirling it to the Skies, with all Vulcan's Shop in the midft of it. Another tears up Mount Ida, with the River Enipeus which ran down the fides of it ; but the Poet, not content to defcribe him with this Mountain upon his Shoulders, tells us that the River flowed down his Back, as he held it up in that 96 CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. Pofture. It is vifible to every judicious Reader, j that fuch Ideas favour more of Burlefque than of the I Sublime. They proceed from a Wantonnefs of Ima- gination, and rather divert the Mind than aftonifh it. Milton has taken every thing that is Sublime in thefe feveral Paffages, and compofes out of them the . following great Image. From their Foundations loofning to and fro They plucked the feat ed Hills with all their load, Rocks, Waters, Woods, and by theJJiaggy tops Up-lifting bore them in their Hands : — We have the full Majefty of Homer in this fhort Defcription, improved by the Imagination of Claudian, without its Puerilities. I need not point out the Defcription of the fallen Angels, feeing the Promontories hanging over their Heads in fuch a dreadful manner, with the other numberlefs Beauties in this Book, which are fo con- fpicuous, that they cannot efcape the Notice of the moll ordinary Reader. There are indeed fo many wonderful flroaks of Poetry in this Book, and fuch a variety of Sublime Ideas, that it w^ould have been impoffible to have given them a place within the bounds of this Paper. Befides that, I find it in a great meafure done to my Hand, at the end of my Lord Rof common's Effay on Tranflated Poetry. I mail refer my Reader thither for fome of the Mafter-Stroaks in the Sixth Book of Paradife Loft, tho' at the fame time there are many others which that noble Author has not taken notice of. Milton, notwithstanding the Sublime Genius he was ' Mafler of, has in this Book drawn to his Affiflance all the helps he could meet with among the Ancient Poets. The Sword of Michael, which makes fo great an havock among the bad Angels, was given him, we are told, out of the Armory of God. But the Sword Of Michael from the Armory of God CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. 97 Was giv'n him tempered fo, that neither keen Nor f olid might refijl that edge : it met The Sword of Satan with Jleep force to f mite Defcending, and in half cut fheere, — This Paffage is a Copy of that in Virgil, wherein the Poet tells us, that the Sword of sEneas, which was given him by a Deity, broke into pieces the Sword of Turnus, which came from a Mortal Forge : As the Moral in this place is Divine, fo by the way we may obferve, that the beftowing on a Man who is favour' d by Heaven fuch an Allegorical Weapon, is very con- formable to the old Eaftern way of Thinking, Not only Homer has made ufe of it, but we find the Jewifh Hero in the Book of Maccabees, who had fought the Battels of the chofen People with fo much Glory and Succefs, receiving in his Dream a Sword from the hand of the Prophet Jeremy \^JeremiaJi\. The follow- ing Paffage, wherein Satan is defcribed as wounded by the Sword of Michael, is in imitation of Homer. 2*he girding Sword with difcontiniious wound Pafid through him, but th 1 Ethereal fubflance clofed Not long divifible, and from the gafh A fir earn of Neclarous humour if) uing flowed Sanguin, fuch as celeflial Spirits may bleed, And all his Armour flain" d Homer tells us in the fame manner, that upon Diomedes wounding the Gods, there flow'd from the Wound an Ichor, or pure kind of Blood, which was not bred from Mortal Viands ; and that tho' the Pain was exquifitely great, the Wound foon clofed up and healed in thofe Beings who are vefled with Immor- tality. , ' I queftion not but Milton in his Defcription of his furious Moloch flying from the Battel, and bellowing with the Wound he had receiv'd,had his Eye upon Mars in the Iliad, who upon his being wounded, is repre- fented as retiring out of the Fight, and making an Outcry louder than that of a whole Army when it G 93 CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. begins the Charge. Homer adds, that the Greeks and 1 Trojans, who were engaged in a general Battel, were! terrified on each fide with the bellowing of this wounded Deity. The Reader will eafily obferve howj Milton has kept all the horrour of this Image without running into the Ridicule of it. • Where the might of Gabriel fought, ' And with fierce Enfigns pierdd the deep array Of "Moloc furious King, who him deffd, And at his Chariot wheels to drag him bound Threatened, nor from the Holy One of Heart n Refrain *d his tongue blafphemous ; but anon Down clortn to the wafle, with flatter *d Arms And uncouth pain fled bellowing. Milton has like wife rais'd his Defcription in this Book with many Images taken out of the Poetical Parts of Scripture. The Meffiah's Chariot, as I have before taken notice, is form'd upon a Vifion of Ezekiel, who, as Grotius obferve s, has very much in him of Homer's Spirit in the Poetical Parts of his ] Prophecy. The following Lines in that glorious Commiflion which is given the Meffiah to extirpate the Hofl of Rebel Angels, is drawn from a Sublime Paffage in the Pfalms. Go then thou mightiefl in thy Father's might Afcend my Chariot, guide the rapid wheels That jliake Heart ns bafis, bring forth all my War My Bow, my thunder, my almighty arms, Gird on thy fword on thy puiffant thigh. The Reader will eafily difcover many other Stroaks I of the fame nature. There is no queflion but Milton had heated his Imagination with the Fight of the Gods in Homer, before he entered upon this Engagement of the Angels. Homer there gives us a Scene of Men, Heroes and Gods mixed together in Battel. Mars animates CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. 99 the contending Armies, and lifts up his Voice in fuch a manner, that it is heard diftinclly amidft all the Shouts and Confufion of the Fight. Jupiter at the fame time Thunders over their Heads; while Neptune raifes fuch a Tempefl, that the whole Field of Battel, and all the tops of the Mountains make about them, The Poet tells us, that Pluto himfelf, whofe Habita- tion was in the very Center of the Earth, was fo a[f]frighted at the mock, that he leapt from his Throne. Homer afterwards defcribes Vulcan as pouring down a Storm of Fire upon the River Xaitthus, and Minerva as throwing a Rock at Mars ; who, he tells us, covered feven Acres in his Fall. As Homer has introduced into his Battel of the Gods every thing that is great a*nd terrible in Nature, Milton has filled his Fight of Good and Bad Angels with all the like Circumflances of Horrour. The Shout of Armies, the Rattling of Brazen Chariots, the Hurling of Rocks and Mountains, the Earthquake, the Fire, the Thunder, are all of them employed to lift up the Reader's Imagination, and give him a fuit- able Idea of fo great an Action. With what Art has the Poet reprefented the whole Body of the Earth trembling, even before it was created. All Heaven refunded, and had Earth been then All Earth had to its Center Jhook In how fublime and juft a manner does he after- wards defcribe the whole Heaven making under the Wheels of the Meffiah's Chariot, with that Exception to the Throne of God ? Under his burning Wheels Thejleadfa/l Empyrean Jhook throughout, All but the Throne it f elf of God ■ Notwithstanding the Meffiah appears cloathed with fo much Terrour and Majefty, the Poet has Hill found means to make his Readers conceive an Idea of him, beyond what he himfelf was able to defcribe. IOO CRITICISM OF BOOK VI. Yet half his flrength he put not forth, but cheeJzt His thunder in mid volley, for he meant Not to deflroy, but root them out of Heaven. In a word, Milton's Genius which was fo great in it felf, and fo ftrengthened by all the helps of Learn- ing, appears in this Book every way Equal to his Subje6t[s], which was the mod Sublime that could enter into the Thoughts of a Poet. As he knew all the Arts of affe cling the Mind, had he not given [he knew it was neceflary to give] it certain reding places and Opportunities of recovering it felf from time to time : He has [therefore] with great Addrefs interfperfed feveral Speeches, Reflections, Similitudes, and the like Reliefs to diverfifie his Narration, and eafe the Attention of his [the] Reader, that he might come frefh to his great Action, and by fuch a Contraft of Ideas, have a more lively talle of the nobler parts of his Defcription. Addison corrected and re-corrected this last sentence. The first and last readings, as in the original and second editions, are as above. The inter- mediate reading, according to the Errata in No. 369, of the original issue, is as follows : As he knew all the Arts of affecting the Mind, he has given it certain retting places and Opportunities of recovering it felf from time to time : feveral Speeches, Reflections, Similitudes, and the like Reliefs being interfperfed, to diversifie his Narration, ar.d eafe the attention of his Reader. Numb* CCCXXXIX. The SPECTATOR. Vt his exordia primis Omnia, 6° ipfe tener Mundi concreverit orbis. Turn durare folum, 6° dif cinder e Nerea ponto Cceperit, 6° rerum paullatim fumereformas. Virg. {He fung the fee ret Seeds of Nature's Frame ; How Seas, and Earth, and Air, and aclive Flame % Fell thro' the mighty Void, and ill their Fall Were blindly gathered in this goodly Ball. The tender Soil then fliff ning by degrees Shut from the bounded Earth the boiniding Seas. Then Earth and Ocean various Forms difclofe, And a nau Sun to the nciu World arofe. Drydcn.} Saturday, March 29. 17 12. WDNGINUS has obferved, that there may ! be a Loftinefs in Sentiments, where there I is no Paffion, and brings Inftances out of I Ancient Authors tofupport this his Opinion. " J The Pathetick, as that great Critick ob- ferves, may animate and inflame the Sublime, but is not effential to it. Accordingly, as he further remarks, we very often find that thofe, who excell moft in flirring up the Paffions, very often want the Talent of Writing in the Great and Sublime manner ; and fo on the contrary. Milton has fhewn himfelf a Mailer in both thefe ways of Writing. The Seventh Book, which we are now entering upon, is an Inftance of that Sublime, which is not mixt and work'd up with Paffion. The Author appears in a kind of compofed and fedate Majefty; and tho' the Sentiments do not give fo great [an] Emotion as thofe in the former Book, they abound with as magnificent Ideas. 102 CRITICISM OF BOOK VII. The Sixth Book, like a troubled Ocean, reprefents Greatnefs in Confufion; the Seventh affects the Imagination like the Ocean in a Calm, and fills the Mind of the Reader without producing in it any thing like Tumult or Agitation. The Critiek abovementioned, among the Rules which he lays down for fucceeding in the Sublime way of Writing, propofes to his Reader, that he mould imitate the moil celebrated Authors who have gone before him, and have been engaged in Works of the fame nature ; as in particular that if he writes on a Poetical Subject, he mould confider how Homer would have fpoken on fuch an Occafion. By this means one great Genius often catches the Flame from another, and writes in his Spirit, without copying fervilely after him. There are a thoufand Shining Paffages in Virgil, which have been lighted up by Homer. Milton, though his own natural Strength of Genius was capable of furnifhing out a perfect Work, has doubtlefs very much raifed and ennobled his Concep- tions, by fuch an Imitation as that which Longinus has recommended. In this Book, which gives us an Account of the Six Days Works, the Poet received but very few Affifl- ances from Heathen Writers, who were Strangers to the Wonders of Creation. But as there are many Glorious Stroaks of Poetry upon this Subject in Holy Writ, the Author has numberlefs Allufions to them through the whole Courfe of this Book. The great Critiek, I have before mentioned, tho' an Heathen, has taken notice of the Sublime manner in which the Law-giver of the Jews has defcribed the Creation in the firft Chapter of Genefis ; and there are many other Paffages in Scripture, which rife up to the fame Majefty, where this Subject is toucht upon. Milton has fhewn his Judgment very remarkably, in making ufe of fuch of thefe as were proper for his Poem, and in duly qualifying thofe high Strains of Eaftern Poetry, CRITICISM OF BOOK VII. IO3 which were fuited to Readers whofe Imaginations were fet to an higher pitch than thofe of colder Climates. Adam's Speech to the Angel, wherein he defires an Account of what had paffed within the Regions of Nature before his [the] Creation, is very great and folemn. The following Lines, in which he tells him that the Day is not too far fpent for him to enter upon fuch a Subject, are exquifite in their kind. And the Great light of day yet wants to run Much of his race through fleep, fifpens in Heart n Held by thy voice, thy potent voice he hears 9 And longer will delay to hear thee tell His Generation, &c. The Angel's encouraging our firlt Parentis] inamodefl purfuit after Knowledge, with the Caufes which heafhgns for the Creation of the World, are very juft and beauti- ful. The Meffiah, by whom, as we are told in Scrip- ture, the Heavens were made, goes [comes*] forth in the Power of his Father, furrounded with an Hoft of Angels, and cloathed with fuch a Majefty as becomes his entering upon a Work, which, according to our Conceptions, looks like [appears] the utmoft exertion of Omnipo- tence. What a beautiful Defcription has our Author raifed upon that Hint in one of the Prophets. And t behold there came four Chariots out from between two Mountains, and the Mountains were Mountains ofBrafs. About his Chariot numberlefs were pour 'd Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thro?ies, And virtues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing'd, From the Armoury of God, where fland of old Myriads betweeii two brazen mountains lodged Againfl a folemn day, harnefl at hand; Celeflial Equipage) and ?tow came forth Spontaneous, for within them fpirit lirtd Attendant on their lord : Heatf n open'd wide Her ever- during Gates, Harntonious found On golden Hinges moving I have before taken notice of thefe Chariots of I04 CRITICISM OF BOOK VII. God ; and cf thefe Gates of Heaven, and fhall here only add, that Homer gives us the fame Idea of the latter as opening of themfelves, tho' he afterwards takes off from it, by telling us, that the Hours firfl of all removed thofe prodigious heaps of Clouds which lay as a Barrier before them. I do not know any thing in the whole Poem more Sublime than the Defcription which follows, where the Meffiah is reprefented at the head of his Angels, as looking down into the Chaos, calming its Confufion, riding into the midft of it, and drawing the firfl. Out- line of the Creation. On Heavenly ground they flood, and from theJJwre They vicirtd the vafl immeafurable Abyfs Outragious as a Sea, dark, wq/leful } wild, Up from the bottom turn 7/ by 'furious winds And j urging waves, as Mountains to affault Heart lis height, and with the Center mix the Pole. Silence, ye troubled waves, and thou Deep, Peace, Said then tJi Omnific 7cord, your Difcord end: Nor flaid, but on the wings of Cherubim Up-lifted, in Paternal Glory rode Far into Chaos, and the world unborn; For Chaos heard his voice: him all his train Followed in bright Procejfwn to behold Creation, and the wonders of his might. Then flaid the fervid wheels, and An his hand He took the golden Compaffes, p?'epared In Gods eternal Store, to circumfcribe This Univetfe, and all created things : One foot he Centered, and the other turned, Round through the vafl profundity obfeure, And f aid, thus far extend, thus far thy bounds \ This be thy jufl Circumfere?ice, O World. The Thought of the Golden Compaffes is conceiv'd altogether in Hornet* % Spirit, and is a very noble Inci- dent in this wonderful Defcription. Homer, wlien he fpeaks of the Gods, afcribes to them feveral Arms and 1 CRITICISM OF BOOK VII. TO$ Inflruments with the fame greatnefs of Imagination. Let the Reader only perufe the Defcription of Minerva's ^Egis, or Buckler, in the Fifth Book, with her Spear, which could [would] overturn whole Squadrons, and her Helmet, that was fufficient to cover an Army, drawn out of an hundred Cities : The Golden Compaffes, in the above-mentioned Paffage appear a very natural Inflrument in the Hand of him, whom Plato fome where calls the Divine Geometrician. As Poetry delights in cloathing abftracted Ideas in Allegories and fenfible Images, we ' find a magnificent Defcription of the Creation form'd after the fame manner in one of the Prophets, wherein he defcribes the Almighty Architect as meafuring the Waters in the hollow of his Hand, meting out the Heavens with his Span, comprehending the Dull of the Earth in a Meafure, weighing the Mountains in Scales, and the Hills in a Ballance. Another of them defcribing the Supreme Being in this great Work of Creation, reprefents him as laying the Foundations of the Earth, and flretching a Line upon it. And in another place as garnifhing the Heavens, flretching out the North over the empty place, and hanging the Earth upon nothing. This lafl noble Thought Milton has exprefs'd in the fol- lowing Verfe : And Earth f elf -balanced on her Center hung. The Beauties of Defcription in this Book lie fo very thick, that it is impoflible to enumerate them in this Paper. The Poet has employed on them the whole Energy of our Tongue. The feveral great Scenes of the Creation rife up to view one after another, in fuch a manner that the Reader feems prefent at this wonderful Work, and to aflifl among the Quires [Choirs] of Angels, who are the Spectators of it. How glorious is the Conclufion of the firfl Day. Thus was the firfl day Ev'n a?id Morn, Nor pajl uncelebrated, nor unfung By the Celejlial Quires, when Orient light Io6 CRITICISM OF BOOK VII. Exhaling firfl front Darknefs they beheld '; Birth-day of Heart 11 and Earth ; with joy andjhoul The hollow univerfal Orb they f IP d. We have the fame elevation of Thought in the third Day ; when the Mountains were brought forth, and the Deep was made. Immediately the mountains huge appear Emergent, and their broad bare backs up heave Into the Clouds, their tops afcend the Sky. So high as heart d the tumid hills, fo low Down funk a hollow bottom broad and deep, Capacious bed of Waters We have alfo the rihng of the whole vegetable World defcribed in this Day's Work, which is filled with all the Graces that other Poets have lavifhed on their Defcriptions of the Spring, and leads the Reader's Imagination into a Theatre equally fur- prizing and beautiful. The feveral Glories of the Heav'ns make their appearance on. the Fourth Day. Firfl in his Eafl the glorious lamp was feen Eegent of day, and all thU Horizon round Invefled with bright rays,jocond to run His longitude through Heart ns high rode : the Gray Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danced Shedding fweet i?ifluence : lefs bright the moon, But oppofite in leveled Wefl was Jet, His Mirror, with full face borrowing her light Br 077i him* for other light fhe needed 7i07te Li that afpecl, andflill that dif^ance keeps Till night) then in the Eafl her turn fhe faines Revolrtd 011 Heart 71s great Axle, and her 7'eign With thoufand leffer lights dividual holds, With thoufand thoufand Jlars, that then appeared Spangling the Hemifphere One would wonder how the Poet could be fo con- cife in his Defcription of the Six Days Works, as to CRITICISM OF BOOK VII. 107 comprehend them within the bounds of an Epifode, and at the fame time fo particular, as to give us a lively Idea of them. This is ftill more remarkable in his Account of the Fifth and Sixth Day[s], in which he has drawn out to our view the whole Animal Creation, from the Reptil to the Behemoth. As the Lion and the Leviathan are two of the nobleft Productions in this World , of living Creatures, the Reader will find a moil exquifite Spirit of Poetry, in the Account which our Author gives us of them. The Sixth Day con- cludes with the Formation of Man, upon which the Angel takes occafion, as he did after the Battel in Heaven,: to remind Adam of his Obedience, which was the principal Defign of this his Vifit. The Poet afterwards reprefents the Meffiah return- ing into Heaven, and taking a Survey of his great Work. There is fomething inexprembly Sublime in this Part of the Poem, where the Author defcribes that great Period of Time, fill'd with fo many Glori- ous Circumftances ; when the Heavens and the Earth were finifhed; when the Meffiah afcended up in Triumph through the Everlafling Gates ; when he look'd down with pleafure upon his new Creation \ when every Part of Nature feemed to rejoice in its Exiftence ; when the Morning Stars fang together, and all the Sons of God fhouted for Joy. So Ertn and Mom accompli/1? d the Sixth day : Yet not till the Creator from his Work Defifling, thd unwearied, up returned, Up to the Heart 11 of Heart ns his high abode. Thence to behold this new created world Th! additio7i of his empire; how it /hew d In prof peel from his throne, how good, how fair A nfwering his great Idea. Up he rode Follow" d with acclamation and the Sound Symphonious of ten thoufand harps that tutfd Angelic Harmonies : the earth, the air Refounded, (thou remember' fl, for thou heard'fl} 108 CRITICISM OF BOOK VII. The Heavens and all the Confiellations rung, The Planets in their Station UJFning flood. While the bright pomp afcended jubilant. Open, ye ever lafli?ig gates, they Jung, Open, ye Heav'ns, your living doors, let in The great Creator from his work returned Magnificent, his fix days work, a World. I cannot conclude this Book upon the Creation, without mentioning a Poem which has lately appeared under that Title. The Work was undertaken with fo good an Intention, and is executed with fo great a Maftery, that it deferves to be looked upon as one of the mofl ufeful and noble Productions in our Engli/h Verfe. The Reader cannot but be pleafed to find the Depths of Philofophy enlivened with all the Charms of Poetry, and to fee fo great a Strength of Reafon, amidfl fo beautiful a Redundancy of [the] Ima- gination. The Author has fhewn us that Defign in all the Works of Nature, which neceffarily leads us to the Knowledge of its firft Caufe. In fhort, he has illuflrated, by numberlefs and inconteftable Inftances, that Divine Wifdom, which the Son of Sirach has fo nobly afcribed to the Supreme Being in his Forma- tion of the World, when he tells us, that He created her,,a?td faw her, and numbered her, and poured her out upon all his Works. ,f t In the advertisements immediately under this paragraph in the Original issue is the following; — Lately Publish'd, Creation. A Philosophical Poem. Demonstrating the Existence and Providence of a God. In Seven Books. By Sir Richard Blackmore,Knt., M.D., and Fellow of the College of Physicians in London, &c. &c. Numb. CCCXLV. The SPECTATOR. Sanclius his animal, mentifque capacius altce Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in ccetera posset. Natus homo efl Ov. Met. {A Creature of a more exalted kind Was wanting yet, and then was Man defgn'd; Confcious of Thought, of more capacious Breafl, For Empire form 1 d, and ft to rule the reft. Dryden. j- Saturday, April 5, 17 12. ,HE Accounts which Raphael gives of the Battel of Angels, and the Creation of the World, have in them thofe Qualifications which the Criticks judge requifite to an Epifode. They are nearly related to the principal Action, and have a jufl Connection with the Fable. The Eighth Book opens with a beautiful Defcription of the Impreffion which this Difcourfe of the Arch- angel made on our firfl Parent. Adam afterwards, by a very natural Curiofity, enquires concerning the Motions of thofe Celeflial Bodies which make the moft glorious Appearance among the fix Days Works. The Poet here, with a great deal of Art, reprefents Eve as withdrawing from this part of their Converfation to Amufements that feem more fuitable to her Sex. He well knew, that the Epifode in this Book, which is filled with Adam's Account of his Paffion and Efleem for Eve, would have been improper for her hearings and has therefore devifed very "jufl and beautiful Reafons for her Retiring. Sofpake our Sire, and by his Countenance feem ] d Entring onfludious thoughts abflrufe: which Eve Perceiving where fJ^e fat retired in fight, With lowlinefs Majeflick from her Seat 110 CRITICISM OF BOOK VIII. And Grace that won who faw to wijh her flay, Iiofe, and went forth among her fruits and flozvers To vifit how they prof per' d, hud and bloom, Her Nurfery ; they at her coming fprung, * And toucht by her fair tendance gladlier grew. Yet went flte not, as not with fuch difcourfe Delighted, or not capable her ear Of what was high : Such pleafure flhe referv d Adam relating, flie fole Auditrefs ; Her Husband the relater flhe pref err 1 d Before the Angel, a7id of him to ask Chofe rather : he, flte knew, would intermix Grateful digreffions, and folve high difpute With conjugal Carejfes : from his Lip Not words alone p leafed her. O when meet now Such pairs in Love, and mutual honour joirid ? The Angel's returning a doubtful Anfwer to Adam\ Enquiries, was not only proper for the Moral Reafon which the Poet affigns, but becaufe it would have been highly abfurd to have given the Sanction of an Archangel to any particular Syftem of Philofophy. The chief Points in the Ptolemaic and Copemican Hypothefis are defcribed with great Concifenefs and Perfpicuity, and at the fame time dreffed in verypleaf- ing and Poetical Images. Adam, to detain the Angel, enters afterwards upon his own Hiftory, and relates to him the Circumflances in which he found himfelf upon his Creation ; as alfo his Converfation with his Maker, and his firft Meeting with Eve. There is no part of the Poem more apt to raife the attention of the Reader, than this Difcourfe of our great Anceftor ; as nothing can be more fur- prizing and delightful to us, than to hear the Senti- ments that arofe in the firfl Man while he was yet new and frefh from the hands of his Creator. The Poet has interwoven every thing which is delivered upon this Subject in Holy Writ with fo many beautiful Imaginations of his own, that nothing can be conceived CRITICISM OF BOOK VIII. Ill more juit and natural than this whole Epifode. As our Author knew this Subjecl could not but be agree- able to his Reader, he would not throw it into the relation of the fix Days Works, but referved it for a diflincl; Epifode, that he might have an opportunity of expatiating upon it more at large. Before I enter on this part of the Poem, I cannot but take notice of two fhining Paffages in the Dialogue between Adam and the Angel. The firft is that wherein our Anceftor gives an Account of the Pleafure he took in converfmg with' him, which contains a very noble Moral. For while I fit with thee, Ifeem in Heaven, And fweeter thy difcourfe is to my ear Than fruits of Palm-tree pleaf ant eft to thirfl And hunger both, from labour, at the hour Of fweet repafl; they f dilate, and foon fill, The? pleaf ant, but thy words with Grace divine Imbild, bring to their fweetnefs no fatiety. The other I fhall mention is that in which the Angel gives a reafon why he fhould be glad to hear the Story Adam was about to relate. For I that day was abfent, as befell, Bound on a Voyage uncouth and obfeure, Far on' excurfion towards the Gates of Hell; Squared in full Legion {fuch command we had) To fee that none thence iff tied forth a Spy, Or enemy, while God was in his work, Left he incenfi at fuch eruption bold, Jpeflruclion with Creation might have mix'd. There is no queftion but our Poet drew the Image in what follows from that in Virgil's Sixth Book, where Aineas and the Sibyl fland before the Adamantine Gates which are there defcrib'd as fhut upon the place of Torments, and liflen to the Groans, the clank of Chains, and the noife of Iron Whips that were heard in thofe Regions of Pain and Sorrow. Fafil we found, fafl fhut The difmal gates, and barricadoedjirong ; 112 CRITICISM OF BOOK VIII. But long ier our approaching heard within Noife, other than the found of Dance or Song, Torment, and loud lament, and furious rage. Adam then proceeds to give an Account of his Condition and Sentiments immediately after his Crea- tion. How agreeably does he represent the pofture in which he found himfelf, the beautiful Landfkip that furrounded him, and the gladnefs of Heart which grew up in him on that occalion. As new waked from foundefi fleep Soft on theflowry herb I found me laid In balmy fweat, which with his beams the Sun Soon dried, and on the reeking moiflurefed. Streight toward Heart 11 my wondering eyes I turnd. And gaz'd a while the ample Sky, 'till rais'd By quick inflinclive motion up I fprung As thitherward endeavouring^ and upright Stood on my feet ; about me round I faw Hill, Dale, andfJiady woods and funny plains, And liquid lapfe of 'murmuring fir earns \ by thefe Creatures that lirtd, and mortd, and walked, or flew, Birds on the branches warbling ; all things fmiC d : With fragrance, and with Joy my heart overflowed. Adam is afterwards defcribed as furpriz'd at his own Exiflence, and taking a Survey of himfelf, and of all the Works of Nature. He likewife is reprefented as difcovering by the Light of Reafon, that he and every thing about him mufl have been the effect of fome Being infinitely good and powerful, and that this Being had a Right to his Worfhip and Adoration. His firfl addrefs to the Sun, and to thofe parts of the Creation which made the mofl diftinguifhed Figure, is very natural and amufmg to the Imagination. Thou Sun, f aid I, fair Light, And thou enlighf ned earth, fo frefh and gay, Ye Hills and Dales, ye Rivers, Woods and Plains, And ye that live and move, fair creatures tell, Tell if you faw, how came I thus, how here? CRITICISM OF BOOK VIII. I13 His next Sentiment, when upon his firft going to Sleep he fancies himfelf lofmg his Exiflence, and falling away into nothing, can never be fufficiently admired. His Dream, in which he flill preferves the Confciouf- nefs of his Exiflence, together with his removal into the Garden which was prepared for his Reception, are alfo Circumftances finely imagined, and grounded upon what is delivered in Sacred Story. Thefe and the like wonderful Incidents, in this Part of the Work, have in them all the Beauties of Novelty, at the fame time that they have all the Graces of Na- ture. They are fuch as none but a great Genius could have thought of, though, upon the perufal of them, they feem to rife of themfelves from the Subject of which he treats. In a Word, though they are natural they are not obvious, which is the true Character of all fine Writing. The Impreffion which the Interdiction of the Tree of Life left in the Mind of our firft Parent, is defcribed with great Strength and Judgment, as the Image of the feveral Beafls and Birds paffing in review before him is very beautiful and lively. 1 Each Bird and Beajl behold Approaching two and two, thefe cowring low With blandiJJiment ; each bird Jloofl d oil his Wing: I natiid them as they pafs'd Adam, in the next place, defcribes a Conference which he held with his Maker upon the Subject of Soli- tude. The Poet here reprefents the Supreme Being, as making an Effay of his own Work, and putting to the tryal that reafoning Faculty, with which he had endued his Creature. Adam urges, in this divine Col- loquy, the Impofnbility of his being happy, tho' he was the Inhabitant of Paradife, and Lord of the whole Creation, without the Conversation and Society of fome rational Creature, who mould partake thofe Bleffmgs with him. This Dialogue, which is fupported chiefly by the Beauty of the Thoughts, without other Poetical H 1 14 CRITICISM OF BOOK VIII. Ornaments, is as fine a part as any in the whole Poem : The more the Reader examines the juftnefs and delicacy of its Sentiments, the more he will find himfelf pleafed with it. The Poet has wonderfully preferred the Character of Majefly and Condefcention in the Creator, and at the fame time that of Humility and Adoration in the Creature, as particularly in thofe beautiful Lines. Thus I prefumptuous ; and the Vifion bright, As with a finite more brightned, thus reply* d. &c. ■ I With leave of fpeech implored And humble deprecation thus reply* d, Let not my Words offend thee, Heavenly power, My maker, be propitious while I f peak &c. Adam then proceeds to give an account of his fecond Sleep, and of the Dream in which he beheld the Formation oiEve. The new Paffion that was awakened in him at the fight of her is touched very finely. Under his forming hands a Creature grew, Manlike, but different Sex \ fa lovely fair, That what feem\i fair in all the World feeni'd now Mean, or in her fumnid up, in her contain ] d, And in her looks j Which from that time infus'd Sweetnefs into my heart, unfelt before, And into all things from her air infpifd Thefpirit of Love and amorous delight. Adanis Diflrefs upon lofing fight of this beautiful Phantom, with his Exclamations of Joy and Gratitude at the Difcovery of a real Creature, who refembled the Apparition which had been presented to him in his Dream ; the Approaches he makes to her, and his manner of Courtfhip, are all laid together in a moil exquifite Propriety of Sentiments. Tho' this part of the Poem is work'd up with great Warmth and Spirit, the Love, which is defcribed in it, is every way fuitable to a State of Innocence. If the Reader compares the Defcription which Adam here gives of his leading Eve to the Nuptial Bower, with CRITICISM OF BOOK VIII. II5 that which Mr. Dryden has made on the fame Occa- sion in a Scene of his Fall of Man, he will be fenfible of the great Care which Milton took to avoid all Thoughts on fo delicate a Subject, that might be ofTenfive to Religion or Good-manners. The Senti- ments are chafle, but not cold, and convey to the Mind Ideas of the moil tranfporting Paffion, and of the greatefl Purity. What a noble Mixture of Rapture and Innocence has the Author joined together, in the Reflection which Adam makes on the Pleafures of Love, compared to thofe of Senfe. Thus have I told thee all my State, and brought My Story to the Sum of earthly blifs Which I enjoy, and mufl confefs to find In all things elfe delight indeed, but fuch As us'd or not, works in the mind no change, Nor vehement defire ; thefe delicacies I mean of tafie, fight, fmell, herbs, fruits and flowers. Walks, and the melody of Birds ; but here Far otherwife, tranfported I behold, Tranf ported touch ; here paffion firfl I felt, Commotion fir ange, in all enjoyments elfe Superiour and unmov'd, here only weak Againfi the Charm of beauties pow erf u 11 glance. Or nature faiV d in me, and left fome part Not proof enough fuch object to fufiaiii, Or from my fide fub dueling , took perhaps More than enough ; at leafi on her befiow'd Too much of or?iament, in outward fiiew Elaborate, of inward lefs exact. When I approach Her lovelinefs, fo abfolute ffJiefeems And in herfelf compleat,fo well to know Her own, that what ffJie wills to do or fay ^ See?7is wifefi, virtuoitfefi, difcreetefi, befl : All higher knowledge in her prefence falls Degraded: Wifdom in difcourfe with her Lofes dif countenanced, and like folly fluws \ Il6 CRITICISM OF BOOK VIII. Authority and reafon on her wait, As one intended ' firfl, not after made Occaftonally ; and to confummate all, Greatnefs of mind and noblenefs their Scat Build in her lovclicjl, and ereate an awe About her, as a guard A?igeliek pladd. Thefe Sentiments of Love, in our firft Parent, gave the Angel fuch an Infight into Humane Nature, that he feemsapprehenfive of the Evils which might befall the Species in general, as well as Adam in particular, from the Excefs of this Paflion. He therefore fortifies him againll it by timely Admonitions \ which very artfully prepare the Mind of the Reader for the Occurrences of the next Book, where the Weaknefs of which Adam here gives fuch diftant difcoveries, brings about that fatal Event which is the Subject of the Poem. His Difcourfe, which follows the gentle Rebuke he re- ceiv'd from the Angel, fhews that his Love, however violent it might appear, was flill founded in Reafon, and confequently not improper for Paradife. Neither her outfide form fo fair, nor ought In procreation common to all kinds {Though higher of the genial bed by far, And with myflerious reverence I deem) So much delights me as thofe graceful acls, Thofe thou find decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions mixt with love And f wee t compliance, which declare unfeigned Union of mind, or in us both one Soul', Harmony to behold in wedded pair. Adam's Speech, at parting with the Angel, has in it a Deference and Gratitude agreeable to an Inferioi Nature, and at the fame time a certain Dignity and Greatnefs, fuitable to the Father of Mankind in his State of Innocence. Numb. CCCLI. The SPECTATOR. — In te omnis dotnus indinata recumbit. Virg. {On thee the Fortunes of our Houfe depend.') Saturday ', April 12. 17 12, |F we look into the three great Heroic Poems which have appear'd in the World, we may obferve that they are built upon very flight Foundations. Homer lived near 300 Years after the Trojan War, and, as the Writing of Hiftory was not then in ufe among the Greeks, we may very well fuppofe, that the Tradi- tion of Achilles and Ulyffes had brought down but very few Particulars to his Knowledge, tho' there is no queftion but he has wrought into his two Poems fuch of their remarkable Adventures as were ftill talked of among his Contemporaries. The Story of ALneas, on which Virgil founded his Poem, was likewife very bare of Circumftances, and by that means afforded him an Opportunity of em- bellifhing it with Fiction, and giving a full Range to his own Invention. We find, however, that he has interwoven, in the courfe of his Fable, the principal Particulars, which were generally believed among the Romans, of Apneas his Voyage and Settlement in Italy. The Reader may find an Abridgment of the whole Story, as collected out of the Ancient Hiflorians, and as it was received among the Romans, in Diony- fius Halicarnaffeus. Since none of the Criticks have confidered VirgiFs Fable, with relation to this Hiftory of ALneas, it may Il8 CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. not, perhaps, be amifs to examine it in this Light, U> far as regards my prefent Purpofe. Whoever looks into the Abridgment abovementioned, will find that the Character of sEneas is filled with Piety to the Gods, and a fuperflitious Obfervation of Prodigies, Oracles, and Predictions. Virgil has not only pre- ferred this Character in the Perfon of Apneas, but has given a place in his Poem to thofe particular Prophe- cies which he found recorded of him in Hiftory and Tradition. The Poet took the matters of Fact as they came down to him, and circumftanced them after his own manner, to make them appear the more natural, agreeable or furprifing. I believe very many Readers have been fhocked at that ludicrous Pro- phecy, which one of the Harpyes pronounces to the Trojans in the Third Book, namely, that before they had built their Intended City, they fhould be reduced by Hunger to eat their very Tables. But, when they heard that this was one of the Circumftances that had been tranfmitted to the Romans in the Hiftory of ALneas, they will think the Poet did very well in taking notice of it. The Hiflorian abovementioned, acquaints us that a Prophetefs had foretold Aineas, that he fhould take his Voyage Weftward, till his Com- panions fhould eat their Tables, and that accordingly, upon his landing in Italy, as they were eating their Flefh upon Cakes of Bread, for want of other Conveniences, they afterwards fed on the Cakes themfelves, upon which one of the Company faid merrily, ' We are eating our Tables.' They immediately took the Hint, fays the Hiflorian, and concluded the Prophecy to be ful- filled. As Virgil did not think it proper to omit fo material a Particular in the Hiftory of JEneas, it may be worth while to confider with how much Judgment he has qualified it, and taken off every thing that might have appeared improper for a Paffage in an Heroic Poem. The Prophetefs who foretells it is an lungry Harpy, as the Perfon who difcovers it is young Afcanius. CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. 119 Hens etiam men/as confumimus inqnit Ialius ! Such an Obfervation, which is beautiful in the mouth of a Boy, would have been ridiculous from any other of the Company. I am apt to think that the changing of the Trojan Fleet into Water-Nymphs, which is the molt violent Machine of the whole Eneid, and has given Offence to feveral Critics, may be ac- counted for the fame way. Virgil himfelf, before he begins that Relation, premifes that what he was going to tell appeared incredible, but that it was juflified by Tradition. What further confirms me that this change of the Fleet was a celebrated Circumflance in the Hiflory of Apneas, is, that Ovid has given a place to the fame Metamorphofis in his account of the Heathen Mythology. None of the Cri ticks, I have met with, having con- fidered the Fable of the Alneid in this Light, and taken notice how the Tradition, on which it was founded, authorizes thofe Parts in it which appear the moil Exceptionable ; I hope the Length of this Reflection will not make it unacceptable to the curious Part of my Readers. The Hiflory, which was the Bans of Milton's Poem, is ftill fhorter than either that of the Iliad or sEneid. The Poet has likewife taken care to infert every Cir- cumflance of it in the Body of his Fable. The Ninth Book, which we are here to confider, is raifed upon that brief Account in Scripture, wherein we are told that the Serpent was more fubtile than any Beafl of the Field, that he tempted the Woman to eat of the Forbidden Fruit, that fhe was overcome by this Temptation, and that Adam followed her Example. From thefe few Particulars Milton has formed one of the moft Entertaining Fables that Invention ever produced. He has difpofed of thefe feveral Circum- flances among fo many beautiful and natural Fictions of his own, that his whole Story looks only like a Com- ment upon facred Writ, or rather feems to be a full 120 CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. and compleat Relation of what the other is only an Epitome. I have infilled the longer on this Con- fideration, as I look upon the Difpofition and Contri- vance of the Fable to be the Principal Beauty of the Ninth Book, which has more Story in it, and is fuller of Incidents, than any other in the whole Poem. SatatJs traverfing the Globe, and flill keeping within the Shadow of the Night, as fearing to be difcovered by the Angel of the Sun, who had before detecled him, is one of thofe beautiful Imaginations [with] which [he] introduces this his fecond Series of Adventures. Having examined the Nature of every Creature, and found out one which was the moft proper for his Pur- pofe, he again returns to Paradife ; and,, to avoid Difcovery, finks by Night with a River that ran under the Garden, and rifes up again through a Fountain that iffued from it by the Tree of Life. The Poet, who, as we have before taken notice, fpeaks as little as poflible in his own Perfon, and, after the example of Homer, fills every Part of his Work with Manners and Characters, introduces a Soliloquy of this In- fernal Agent, who was thus refllefs in the Definition of Man. He is then defcrib'd as gliding through the Garden under the refemblance of a Mifl, in order to find out that Creature in which he defign'd to tempt our firfl Parents. This Defcription has fomething in it very Poetical and Surprizing. So faying, through each thicket Dank or Dry Like a black Mifl, low creeping, he held on His Midnight Search, where foonefl he might find The Serpent: him fafl fleeping foon he found In Labyrinth of many a round f elf roll 1 d, \ His head the midfl, well florid withfubtle wiles. The Author afterwards gives us a Defcription of the Morning, which is wonderfully fuitable to a Divine Poem, and peculiar to that firfl Seafon of Nature ; he reprefents the Earth before it was curfl, as a great Altar breathing out its Incenfe from all parts, and CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. 121 fending up a pleafant Savour to the Noftrils of its Creator; to which he adds a noble Idea of Adam and Eve, as offering their Morning Worfhip, and filling up the univerfal Confort of Praife and Adoration, Now when as f acred light bega?i to dawn In Eden on the humid flowers, that breathed Their morning incenfe, when all things that breath From ttt Earth's great Altar fend up f dent praife To the Cr eat our, and his noftrils fill With grateful fmell, forth came the human pair Andjoyrtd their vocal worfliip to the Choir Of Creatures wanting voice ■ The Difpute which follows between our two firfl Parents is reprefented with great Art : It arifes [pro- ceeds] from a difference of Judgment, not of Pamon, and is managed with Reafon, not with Heat; it is fuch a Difpute as we may fuppofe might have happened in Paradife, had Man continued Happy and Innocent. There is a great Delicacy in the Moralities which are interfperfed in Adam's Difcourfe, and which the moll ordinary Reader cannot but take notice of. That force of Love which the Father of Mankind fo finely defcribes in the Eighth Book, and which I inferted in my laft Saturday's Paper, fhews it felf here in many beautiful Inftances : As in thofe fond Regards he cafts towards Eve at her parting from him. Her long with arde?it look his eye purfued Delighted but defiring more her flay. Oft he to her his charge of quick return Repeated, fhe to him as oft engaged To be returrtd by noon amid the Bowre. In his impatience and amufement during hex Abfence. " Adam the while Waitiitg defirous her retur?i, had wove Of choic eft flowers a Garland to adorn Her Treffes, and her rural labours crown> 122 CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. As Reapers oft are wont their Harvejl Queen. Great Joy he pro?nifed to his thoughts, and neiv Solace in her return, fo long delayed; But particularly in that paffionate Speech, where feeing her irrecoverably loft, he refolves to perifh with her, rather than to live without her. -Some cwfed fraud Or enemy hath beguiVd thee, yet unknown, And me with thee hath ruirid\ for with thee Certain my rcfolution is to die ; How can 1 live without thee, how forego Thy fweet convcrfe and love fo dearly joirfd, To live again in thefe wild woods forlorn ? Should God create another Eve, and I Another rib afford, yet lofs of thee Would never from my heart ; no, no, I feel The link of nature draw me : Flefli of Flefli, Bone of my bone thou art, and from thy State Mi?ie 7ieverfliall be parted Blifs or Woe, The beginning of this Speech, and the Preparation to it, are animated with the fame Spirit as the Con- clulion, which I have here quoted. The feveral Wiles which are put in Practice by the Tempter, when he found Eve feparated from her Husband, the many pleafmg Images of Nature, which are intermixt in this part of the Story, with its gradual and regular Progrefs to the fatal Cataftrophe, are fo very remarkable, that it would be fuperfluous to point out their feveral [refpective] Beauties. I have avoided mentioning any particular Simili- tudes in my Remarks on this great Work, becaufe I have given a general account of them in my Paper on the Firfl Book. There is one, however, in this part of the Poem w r hich I fhall here quote, as it is not only very beautiful, but the clofeft of any in the whole Poem ; I mean that where the Serpent is defcrib'd as rolling forward in all his Pride, animated by the evil CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. 123 Spirit, and conducing Eve to her Deftrudlion, while Adam was at too great a diflance from her, to give her his Affiflance. Thefe feveral Particulars are all of them wrought into the following Similitude. Hope elevates, and Joy Brighten } s his Crefl, as when a wand' ring fire Compacl of uncluous vapour \ which the night Condenfes, and the cold invirons round, Kindled through agitatio?i to aflame, ( Which oft, they fay, fome evilfpirit attends) Hovering aiid blazing with delufive light, Mifleads tti amaz'd Night-wanderer from his way To boggs and mires, and oft through pond or pool, There fw allow" d up and lofl, fro?n fuccour far : That fecret Intoxication of Pleafure, with all thofe tranfient flulhings of Guilt and Joy which the Poet reprefents in ourfirft Parents upon their eating the for- bidden Fruit, to thofe flaggings of Spirit, damps of Sorrow and mutual Accufations which fucceed it, are conceiv'd with a wonderful Imagination, and defcribed in very natural Sentiments. When Dido in the Fourth ^Eneid yielded to that fatal Temptation which ruin'd her, Virgil tells us, the Earth trembled, the Heavens were filled with flames of Lightning, and the Nymphs howl'd upon the Moun- tain Tops. Milton, in the fame Poetical Spirit, has defcrib'd all Nature as difturbed upon Eve's eating the forbidden Fruit. So faying, her rafli hand i?i evil hour Forth reachiiig to the Fruit, JJie plucked, filie eat: Earth felt the wound, and nature from her Seat Sighing through all her works gavefigns of Woe That all was lofl Upon Adam's falling into the fame Guilt, the whole Creation appears a fecond time in Convulfions. He fcrupVd not to eat Againfl his better knowledge ; not deceived. 124 CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. But fondly overco?ne with Female charm. Earth trembled from her Entrails, as again In pangs, ~and nature gave a fecond groan, Sky low red and muttering thunder, fome fad drops Wept at compleating of the mortal Sin As all Nature fuffer'd by the guilt of our firft Pa- rents, thefe Symptoms of Trouble and Confternation are wonderfully imagin'd, not only as Prodigies, but as Marks of her Sympathizing in the Fall of Man. Adam's Converfe with Eve, after having eaten the forbidden Fruit, is an exact Copy of that between Jupiter and Juno, in the Fourteenth Iliad. Juno there approaches Jupiter with the Girdle which fhe had re- ceived from Venus, upon which he tells her, that fhe appeared more charming and deferable than fhe ever had done before, even when their Loves were at the highefl. The Poet afterwards defcribes them as repof- ing on a Summet of Mount Ida, which produced under them a Bed of Flowers, the Lotus, the Crocus, and the Hyacinth, and concludes his Defcription with their falling a-fleep. \ Let the Reader compare this with the following Paffage in Milton, which begins with Adam's Speech to Eve, For never did thy Beauty fince the Day I faw thee firfl and wedded thee, adortfd With all Perfeclio?ts fo inflame my Senfe With ardor to e?ijoy thee, fairer now Than ever, bounty of this vi?'tuous Tree. So f aid he, and forbore not glance or toy Of amorous intent, well underflood Of Eve, whofe Eye darted contagious fire. Her hand he feifed, and to a fhady bank Thick over-head with verdant roof embowr'd He led her nothing loth : Flowers were the Couch, Fanfies, and Violets, and Afphodel, And Hyacinth, Eartti s frefihefil foftefil lap. There they their fill of Love, and Loves difport CRITICISM OF BOOK IX. *25 Took largely, of their mutual guilt the Seal, The Solace of their Sin, Hill dewy fleep Opprefi d them As no Poet feems ever to have ftudied Homer more, or to have refembled him in the greatnefs of Genius than Milton, I think I fhou'd have given but a very imperfect Account of his Beauties, if I had not ob- served the mod remarkable Paffages which look like Parallels in thefe two great Authors. I might, in the Courfe of thefe Criticifms, have taken notice of many- particular Lines and Expreffions which are tranflated from the Greek Poet, but as I thought this would have appeared too minute and over-curious, I have pur- pofely omitted them. The greater Incidents, how- ever, are not only fet off by being mown in the fame Light, with feveral of' the fame Nature in Homer, but by that means may be alfo guarded againft the Cavils of the Taftelefs or Ignorant. , Numb. CCCLVII. The SPECTATOR. ■\ Redder e perf once frit convenientia cuique. Hor. {He knows what bejl befits each characler. } £ q U is talia fa?ido Temperet a lachrymis ? Virg.] { Who ca?i relate f itch Woes without a Tear ?} Saturday, April 19. 17 12. [HE Tenth Book of Paradife Loft has a greater variety of Perfons in it than any other in the whole Poem. The Author upon the winding up of his Action intro- duces all thofe who had any Concern in it, and fhew's with great Beauty the influence which it had upon each of them. It is like the laft Act of a well written Tragedy, in which all who had a part in it are generally drawn up before the Audience, and re- prefented under thofe Circumftances in which the de- termination of the Action places them. I fhall therefore confider this Book under four Heads, in relation to the Celeftial, the Infernal, the Human, and the Imaginary Perfons, who have their refpective Parts allotted in it. To begin with the Celeftial Perfons : The Guardian Angels of Paradife are defcribed as returning to Heaven upon the Fall of Man, in order to approve their Vigilance; their Arrival, their manner of Reception, with the Sor- row which appeared in themfelves, and in thofe Spirits who are faid to Rejoice at the Converfion of a Sinner, are very finely laid together in the following Lines. Up ijito Heav'nfrom Paradife in hafle TJH angelick guards afcended, mute and fad For man, for of his flat e by this they knew Much wondering how thefubtle Fiend had floln t This motto was changed in second edition for the one telow it. CRITICISM OF BOOK X. 127 Entrance unfeen. Soon as tti unwelcome news From earth arrived at Heaven Gate, dif pleas' d All were who heard, dim fadnefs did not fpare That time Celejlial vifages, yet mixt With pity, violated not their blifs. About the new-arriv* d, in multitudes Tft! sEthereal people ran, to hear and know How all befell ; They towards the thro?ie fupreame Accountable made hajle to make appear With righteous plea, their utmojl vigilance, And eafily approved ; when the mojl High Eternal father from his fecret cloud, Amidfl in thunder utter' d thus his voice. The fame Divine Perfon who in the foregoing parts of this Poem interceded for our firft Parents before their Fall, overthrew the rebel Angels, and created the World, is now reprefented as defcending to Paradife, and pronouncing Sentence upon the three Offenders. The cool of the Evening, being a Circumftance with which Holy Writ introduces this great Scene, it is Poetically defcribed by our Author, who has alfo kept religioufly to the form of Words, in which the three feveral Sentences were paffed upon Adam, Eve, and the Serpent. He has rather chofen to neglecl the numeroufnefs of his Verfe, than to deviate from thofe Speeches which are recorded on this great occafion. The Guilt and Confufion of our firft Parents {landing naked before their Judge, is touch'd with great Beauty. Upon the Arrival of Sin and Death into the Works of the Creation, the Almighty is again introduced as .peaking to his Angels that unrounded him. See with what heat thefe Dogs of Hell advance To wafle and havock yonder world, which I So fair and good weated, &c. The following Paffage is formed upon that glorious Image in Holy Writ which compares the Voice, of an innumerable Hoft of Angels, uttering Hallelujahs, to the Voice of mighty Thunderings, or of many Waters. 128 CRITICISM OF BOOK X. He ended, and the Heavenly Audience loud Swig Hallelujah^ as the found of Seas ', Through multitude that fung: Jufl are thy ways, Righteous are thy Decrees in all thy Works, Who can extenuate thee % Though the Author in the whole courfe of his Poem, and particularly in the Book we are now examining, has infinite Allufions to places of Scripture, I have only taken notice in my Remarks of fuch as are of a Poetical Nature, and which are woven with great Beauty into the Body of his [this] Fable. Of this kind is that Paffage in the prefent Book, where defcribing Sin [and Death] as marching through the Works of Nature, he adds, Behind her Death Clofe following pace for pace, not mounted yet On his pale horfe : Which alludes to that Paffage in Scripture fo wonder- fully Poetical, and terrifying to the Imagination. And I looked, and behold, a pale Horfe, and his Name that fat on him was Death, and Hell followed with hi7n : and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with fword, and with hunger, and with ficknefs, and with the beafls of the earth. Under this firft head of Celeftial Perfons we muft likewife take notice of the Command which the Angels received, to produce [the] feveral Changes in Nature, and fully the Beauty of the Creation. Accordingly they are reprefented as infecting the Stars and Planets with malignant Influences, weakning the Light of the Sun, bringing down the Winter into the milder Regions of Nature, planting Winds and Storms in feveral Quarters of the Sky, lioring the Clouds with Thunder, and in fhort, perverting the whole frame of the Univerfe to the condition of its Criminal inhabitants. As this is a noble Incident in the Poem, the following Lines, in which we fee the Angels heaving up the Earth, and CRITICISM OF BOOK X. I2Q. placing it in a different poflure to the Sun from what it had before the Fall of Man, is conceived with that fublime Imagination which was fo peculiar to this great Author. • Some fay he bid his angels turn afcanfe The Poles of earth twice ten degrees and more From the Sun's Axle; they with labour pufli' d Oblique the Centrick Globe We are in the fecond place to confider the Infernal Agents under the View which Milto?i has given us of them in this Book. It is obferved by thofe who would fet forth the Greatnefs of Virgil's Plan, that he con- ducts his Reader thro' all the Parts of the Earth which were difcover'd in his time. Afia, Africk and Europe are the feveral Scenes of his Fable. The Plan of Milton's Poem is of an infinitely greater extent, and fills the Mind with many more aflonifhing Circumflances. Satan, having furrounded the Earth feven times, departs at length from Paradife. We afterwards [then] fee him fleering his Courfe among the Conflellations, and after having traverfed the whole Creation, purfuing his Voyage through the Chaos, and entering into his own Infernal Dominions. His firft appearance in the Affembly of Fallen Angels is work'd up with Circumflances which give a delight- ful Surprize to the Reader ; but there is no Incident in the whole Poem which does this more than the Transformation of the whole Audience, that follows the account their Leader gives them of his Expedition. The gradual change of Satan himfelf is defcribed after x Ovid's manner, and may vie with any of thofe cele- brated Transformations which are looked upon as the mofl beautiful parts in that Poet's Works. Milton never fails of improving his own Hints, and beftowing the lafl finifhing Touches to every Incident which is admitted into his Poem. The unexpected Hifs which rifes in this Epifode, the Dimenfions and Bulk of Satan fo much fuperior to thofe of the Infernal Spirits who lay under the fame Transformation, with the 1 13O CRITICISM OF BOOK X. annual Change which they are fuppofed to fuffer, are Inflances of this kind. The Beauty of the Diction is very remarkable in this whole Epifode, as I have obferved in the Sixth Paper of thefe my Remarks the great Judgment with which it was contrived. The Parts of Adam and Eve, or the Humane Perfons, come next under our Confideration. Milton's Art is no where more fhewn than in his conducting the parts of thefe our firfl Parents. The Repre- fentation he gives of them, without falfifying the Story, is wonderfully contrived to influence the Reader with Pity and Compaffion towards them. Tho' Adam in- volves the whole Species in Mifery, his Crime proceeds from a Weaknefs which every Man is inclin'd to pardon and commiferate, as it feems rather the frailty of Humane Nature, than of the Perfon who offended. Every one is apt to excufe a Fault which he himfelf might have fallen into. It was the Excefs of Love for Eve that ruined Adam and his Poflerity. I need not add, that the Author is juflified in this particular by many of the Fathers, and the mofl Orthodox Writers. Milton has by this means filled a great part of his Poem with that kind of Writing which the French Cri ticks call the Tender, and which is in a particular manner engaging to all forts of Readers. Adam and Eve, in the Book we are now confider- ing, are likewife drawn with fuch Sentiments as do not only intereft the Reader in their Afflictions, but raife in him the mofl melting Paffions of Humanity and Commiferation. When Adam fees the feveral Changes in Nature produced about him, he appears in a diforder of Mind fuitable to one who had forfeited both his Innocence and his Happinefs. He is filled with Horror, Remorfe, Defpair ; in the anguifh of his Heart he expoftulates with his Creator for giving [hav- ing given] him an unasked Exiflence. Did I requejl thee, Maker, from my Clay To mould me Man, did I folicit thee From darknefs to promote me, or here place CRITICISM OF BOOK X. I33 Lz this delicious Garden ? as my will Concurred not to my being, 'twere but right And equal to reduce me to my duft, Defirous to refign, and render back All I received ■ He immediately after recovers from his Prefump- tion, owns his Doom to be juft, and begs that the Death which is threaten'd him may be inflicted on him. Why delays His hand to execute what his decree Fix' a on this day ? Why do I overlive, Why am I mock'd with Death, and lengthened out To Deathlefs pain ? how gladly would I meet Mortality my Sentence, and be earth Tnfenfible, how glad would lay me down As in my mothers lap ? there ftwuld I rejl And fleep fecure ; his dreadful voice no more Would thunder in my ears, no fear of worfe To me and to my off-fpring, would torment me With cruel expeclation. This whole Speech is full of the like Emotion, and varied with all thofe Sentiments which we mayfuppofe natural to a Mind fo broken and difturb'd. I muft not omit that generous Concern which our firft Father mows in it for his Pofterity, and which is fo proper to affect the Reader. Hide me from the face ' Of God, whom to behold was then my height Of Happinefs : yet well, if here would end The mifery, I deferv'd it, and would bear My own defer vings ; but this will not ferve; All that I eat, or drink, orfhall beget, Is propagated Curfe. O voice once heard Delightfully, encreafe and multiply, Now Death to hear ! -In me all Pofterity ftaitds curft : Fair Patrimony That I muft leave you, Sons ; O were I able To wafte it all my f elf and leave you none ! 132 CRITICISM OF BOOK X. So difinherited how would you blefs Me now your curfe ! Ah, why ftwuld all Mankind For one Mans fault thus guiltlefs be condemn! d If guiltlcfs ? But from me zvhat can proceed But all corrupt Who can afterwards behold the Father of Mankind extended upon the Earth, uttering his Midnight Com- plaints, bewailing his Exiftence, and wifhing for Death, without fympathizing with him in his Diftrefs ? Thus Adam to hi in fclf lamented loud Through the fill night, not now, as ire man fell Wholefome and cool and mild, but with black Air Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom Which to his evil Confcicnce reprefeiited All things with double terrour : o?i the Ground OutftretcKd he lay, on the cold ground, and oft Curs\l his Creation, Death as oft accused Of tardy execution. The Part of Eve in this Book is no lefs paffionate, and apt to fway the Reader in her Favour. She is reprefented with great Tendernefs as approaching Adam, but is fpurn'd from him with a Spirit of Upbraiding and Indignation conformable to the Nature of Man, whofe Paflions had now gained the Dominion over him. The following Paffage, wherein flie is defcribed as renewing her Addreffes to him, with the whole Speech that follows it, have fomething in them exquifitely moving and pathetick. He aaded not, and from her turn'd: but Eve Not fo repulft, with tears that ceas' d not flowing And trejfes all diforder'd, at his Feet Fell humble, and einbracing them, bef ought His peace, and thus proceeding in her plaint. For fake me not thus Adam, 7vitnefs Heav'n What love fmcere and revrence in my heart I bear thee, and U7iweeti?ig have offended. Unhappily deceived; thy Suppliant I beg, and clafp thy knees ; bereave me not, Whereon I live, thy gentle looks, thy aid, CRITICISM OF BOOK X. I33 Thy counfel in this utlermqft diflrefs, My only firength and flay : Forlorn of thee Whither JJiall I betake me, where jubfifl ? While yet we live fear ce onefhort hour perhaps, Between us two let there be peace, &c. Adam's Reconcilement to her is worked up in the fame Spirit of Tenciernefs. Eve afterwards propoies to her Hufband, in the Blindnefs of her Defpair, that to prevent their Guilt from defcending upon Pofterity they mould refolve to live Childlefs \ or, if that could not be done, that they mould feek their own Deaths by violent Methods. As thofe Sentiments naturally engage the Reader to regard the Mother of Mankind with more than ordinary Commiferation, they likewife contain a very fine Moral. The Refolution of dying v to end our Miferies does not mew fuch a degree of Magnanimity as a Refolution to bear them, and fub- mit to the Difpenfations of Providence. Our Author has therefore, with great Delicacy, reprelented Eve as entertaining this Thought, and Adam as difap- proving it. We are, in the laft place, to confider the Imaginary Perfons, or Sin and Death, who a 61 a large part in this Book. Such beautiful extended Allegories are cer- tainly fome of the fineft Compofitions of Genius ; but, as I have before obferved, are not agreeable to the Nature of an Heroic Poem. This of Sin and Death is very exquifite in its kind, if not confidered as a Part of fuch a Work. The Truths contained in it are fo clear and open that I {hall not lofe time in explain- ing them, but mall only obferve, that a Reader who knows the firength of the Englifli Tongue will be amazed to think how the Poet could find fuch apt Words and Phrafes to defcribe the A6lion[s] of thefe [thofe] two imaginary Perfons, and particularly in that Part where Death is exhibited as forming a Bridge over the Chaos : a Work fuitable to the Genius of Milton. Since the Subje6l I am upon gives me an Oppor- tunity of {peaking more at large of {uch Shadowy and 134 CRITICISM OF BOOK X. imaginary Perfons as may be introduced into Heroic Poems, I mail beg leave to explain my felf on [in] a Mat- ter which is curious in its kind, and which none of the Criticks have treated of. It is certain Homer and Virgil are full of imaginary Perfons, who are very beautiful in Poetry when they are juft mown, without being engaged in any Series of Action. Homer in- deed reprefents Sleep as a Perfon, and afcribes a fhort Part to him in his Iliad ; but we muft confider that tho' we now regard fuch a Perfon as entirely Shadowy and unfubflantial, the Heathens made Statues of him, placed him in their Temples, and looked upon him as a real Deity. When Homer makes ufe of other fuch Allegorical Perfons it is only in fhort Expreffions, which convey an ordinary Thought to the Mind in the moil pleafmg manner, and may rather be looked upon as Poetical Phrafes than allegorical Defcriptions. Inflead of telling us that Men naturally fly when they are terrified, he introduces the Perfons of Flight and Fear, who he tells us are infeparable Companions. Inflead of faying that the Time was come when Apollo ought to have received his Recompence, he tells us that the Hours brought him his Reward. In- flead of defcribing the Effects which Minerva's sFgis produced in Battell, he tells us that the Brims of it were encompaffed by Terr our, Font, Difcord, Fury, Furfuit, Majfacre and Death. In the fame Figure of fpeaking he reprefents Viclory as following Diomedes ; Difcord as the Mother of Funerals and Mourning, Ve?ius as dreffed by the Graces, Bellona as wearing Terrour and Confternation like a Garment. I might give feveral other Inflances out of Homer, as well as a great many out of Virgil. Milton has likewife very often made ufe of the fame way of fpeaking, as where he tells us that Viclory fat on the right hand of the Mefliah, when he march'd forth again fl the Rebel Angels ; that at the rifmg of the Sun the Hours un- barr'd the Gates of Light; that Difcord was the Daughter of Sin. Of the fame nature are thofe Ex- preffions where defcribing the finging of the Nightin- CRITICISM OF BOOK X. 135 gale, he adds, Silence was pleafed; and upon the Meffiah's bidding Peace to the Chaos, Confufion heard his voice. I might add innumerable other # Inflances of oui Poet's writing in this beautiful Figure. It is plain that thefe I have mentioned, in which Perfons of an imaginary Nature are introduced, are fuch fhort Allegories as are not defigned to be taken in the literal Senfe, but only to convey particular Circumftances to the Reader after an unufual and entertaining Manner. But when fuch Perfons are introduced as principal Aclors, and en- gaged in a Series of Adventures, they take too much upon them, and are by no means proper for an Heroic Poem, which ought to appear credible in its principal Parts. I cannot forbear therefore thinking that Sin and Death are as improper Agents in a Work of this Nature, as Strength and Violc?ice \NeccJJity\ in one of the Tragedies of Efchylus, who reprefented thofe two Perfons nailing down Prometheus to a Rock, for which he has been juftly cenfured by the greatefl Criticks. 1 do not know any imaginary Perfon made ufe of in ^a more Sublime manner of thinking than that in one of the Prophets, who defcribing God as defcending from Heaven, and vifiting the Sins of Mankind, adds that dreadful Circumftance ; Before him went the Pejlilence. It is certain this imaginary Perfon might have been defcribed in all her purple Spots. The Fever might have march' d before her, Pain might have flood at her right Hand, Phrenzy on her left, and Death in her Rear. She might have been introduced as gliding down from the Tail of a Comet, or darted upon the Earth in a Flafh of Lightning : She might have tainted the Atmofphere with her Breath; the very glaring of her Eyes might have fcattered Infection. But I believe every Reader will think that in fuch Sublime Writings the mentioning of her as it is done in Scripture -has fomething in it more juft, as well as great, than all that the moil fanciful Poet could have bellowed upon her in the Richnefs of his Imagination. Numb. CCCLXIII. The SPECTATOR. -Crudelis ubique Lucius, ubique pernor, &* plurima Mortis Imago. Virg. {All Parts refoundwith Tumults, Plaints, and Fears \ And grifly Death infundry Shapes appears. Dryden.} Saturday, April 26. 17 12. \TLTON has fhewn a wonderful Art in de- I fcribing that variety of Paffions which arife in our firft Parents upon the breach of the Commandment that had been given them. We fee them gradually paffmg from the triumph of their Guilt thro' Remorfe, Shame, Defpair, Contrition, Prayer, and Hope, to a perfect and corn- pleat Repentance. At the end of the Tenth Book they are reprefented as proftrating themfelves upon the Ground, and watering the Earth with their Tears : To which the Poet joins this beautiful Circumftance, that they offer'd up their Penitential Prayers on the very place where their Judge appeared to them when he pronounced their Sentence. — They forthwith to the place Repairing, where hejudg'd them, projlrate fell Before him reverent, and both co7ifefs > d Humbly their faults, and pardon begg'd, with tears Watring the Ground [There is a Beauty of the fame kind in a tragedy of Sophocles, where Oedipus, after having put out his own Eyes, inflead of breaking his Neck from the Palace Battlements (which furnifhes fo elegant an Entertain- ment for our Englifh Audience) defires that he may be conducted to Mount Cithceron, in order to end his Life in that very Place where he was expofed in his CRITICISM OF BOOK XI. 137 Infancy, and where he mould then have died, had the Will of his Parents been executed.] As the Author never fails to give a Poetical turn to his Sentiments, he defcribes in the beginning of this Book the Acceptance which thefe their Prayers met with, in a fhort Allegory form'd upon that beautiful Paffage in Holy Writ. And another Angel came a?id flood at the Altar, having a golden Cenfer ; and there was given unto him much incenfe, that hefhould offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar, which ■ was before the throne : And the fmoak of the incenfe which came with the Frayers of the Saints, afcended tip before God. To Heaven their prayers Flew up, nor mifs'd the way, by eiivious winds Blown vagabo?id or fruflrate : in they pafid Dimentionlefs through Heav'nly doors, then clad With incenfe, where the Golde?i Altar fumed, By their great interceffor, came infigJit Before the Father's throne We have the fame Thought expreffed a fecond time in the Interceffion of the Meffiah, which is conceived in very Emphatick Sentiments and Expreffions. Among the Poetical parts of Scripture which Milton has fo finely wrought into this part of his Narration, I mufl not omit that wherein Fzekiel fpeaking of the i\ngels who appeared to him in a Vifion, adds that every one had four faces, and that their whole bodies, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings were full of eyes round about. The Cohort bright Of watchful Cherubi?n; four faces each Had, like a double Janus, all their fhape Spangled with eyes- The affembling of all the Angels of Heaven to hear the Solemn Decree paffed upon Man is reprefented in very lively Ideas. The Almighty is here defcrib'd as remembring Mercy in the midft of Judgment, and 138 CRITICISM OF BOOK XI. commanding Michael to deliver his Meffage in the mildeft terms, leafl the Spirit of Man, which was al- ready broken with the Senfe of his Guilt and Mifery, mould fail before him. Yet lea/I they faint At the fad Sentence rigor oufly urg'd, For I behold theni foftned and with tears Bewaili7ig their excefs, all terror hide. The Conference of Adam and Eve is full of moving Sentiments. Upon their going Abroad after the melancholy Night which they had paffed together, they difcover the Lion and the Eagle purfuing each of them their Prey towards the Eaflern Gates of Para- dife. There is a double Beauty in this Incident, not only as it prefents great and jufl Omens which are always agreeable in Poetry; but as it expreffes that Enmity which was now produced in the Animal Crea- tion. The Poet, to mew the like changes in Nature, as well as to grace his Fable with a noble Prodigy, re- prefents the Sun in an Eclipfe. This particular Inci- dent has likewife a fine effecl: upon the Imagination of the Reader, in regard to what follows : For, at the fame time that the Sun is under an Eclipfe, a bright Cloud defcends in the Weftern quarter of the Heavens, filled with an Hoft of Angels, and more luminous than the Sun it felf. The whole Theatre of Nature is darkned, that this glorious Machine may appear in all its luflre and magnificence. — Why in the Eafl Darknefs ere day's mid-courfe, and morning light More orient in that Weflern cloud that draws O'er the blue firmament a radiant white, And flow defcends, with fomething heav'nly fraught 7 He err'd not; for by this the Heavenly bands Down from a Sky of Jafper lighted now, In Paradife, and on a Hill made halt; A glorious apparition I need not obferve how properly this Author, who always fuits his Parts to the Actors whom he intro- CRITICISM OF BOOK XT. I39 duces, has employed Michael in the Expulfion of our firfl Parents from Paradife. The Arch-angel on this occafion neither appears in his proper Shape, nor in that familiar manner with which Raphael the fociable Spirit entertained the Father of Mankind before the Fall. His Perfon, his Port and Behaviour, are fuit- able to a Spirit of the higheft Rank, and exquihtely defcrib'd in the following Paffage. Tff Archangel foon drew nigh Not in his Jhape Celefiial; but as man Clad to meet man ; over his lucid ar?ns A 7nilitary vejl of purple flow 1 d Livelier than Melibaean, or the grain Of Sarra, worn by Kings and Heroes old In ti77ie of truce ; Iris had dipt the Wooff: His filarry helm, unbuckled, fihew'd him pri?ne In Manhood where Youth ended; by his fide As in a gliflring Zodiack hung the Sword, Satan' j dire dread, a?td in his hand the Spear. Adam bow'd low ; he kingly from his flate Inclined not, but his coming thus declared. Eve's Complaint upon hearing that fhe was to be removed from the Garden of Paradife is wonderfully beautiful. The Sentiments are not only proper to the Subject, but have fomething in them particularly foft and womaniih. Mufl I the?t leave thee, Paradife ? thus leave Thee, native Soil, thefe happy walks andfliades, Fit haunt of Gods ? Where I had hoped to fpend Quiet though fad the refpite of that day That mufl be mortal to us both. Ofiow'rs That never will in other Climate grow, My early vifitation, and my lafil At Even, which I bred up with tejider hand From the firfl opening bud, and gave you names 9 Who nowfhall rear you to the Sun, or ra7ik Your tribes, and water from tH a7nbrofial fount ? Thee lafilly, Nuptial bowre, by me adorn" d HO CRITICISM OP BOOK XI. With what to fight or fmell was fweet ; from thee Howjhall I part, and whither wander down Into a lower world, to this objcure And wild, how JJiall we breath in other air Lefs pure, accuflom'd to immortal fruits ? Adam's Speech abounds with Thoughts which are equally moving, but of a more Mafculine and elevated Turn. Nothing can be conceived more Sublime and Poetical, than the following Paffage in it : This mofl afflicls me, that departing hence As from his face 1 filiall be hid, deprived His bleffed Count 'nance; here I could 'frequent^ With worjliip, place by place where he vouchfafed Prefence divine, and to my Sons relate; On this mount he appeared, tender this tree Stood vifible, among thefe Pines his voice I he fir d, here with him at this fountain talk'd : So many grateful Altars I would rear Of graffce turf, and pile up every Stone Of luflrefrom the brook, in memory, Or monument to ages, and thereon Offer fweet fuelling Gums and fruits and flowers ; In yonder nether world where fliall I feek His bright appearances, or footfleps trace ? For though I fled hi?n angry, yet recall' d To life prolong 'd and promifed race, I now Gladly behold though but his utmofl Skirts Of Glory, and far off his Steps adore. The Angel afterwards leads Adam to the higheft Mount of Paradife, and lays before him a whole He- mifphere, as a proper Stage for thofe Vifions which were to be reprefented on it. I have before obferved how the Plan of Milton's Poem is in many Particulars greater than that of the Iliad ox AZneid. Virgil's Hero, in the laft of thefe Poems, is entertained with a fight of all thofe who are to defcend from him ; but tho' that Epifode is juftly admired as one of the nobleft CRITICISM OF BOOK XI. , I4I Defigns in the whole ALneid, every one mufl allow that this of Milton is of a much higher Nature. Adam's Vifion is not confined to any particular Tribe of Man- kind, but extends to the whole Species. In this great Review, which Adam takes of all his Sons and Daughters, the firft Objects he is prefented with exhibit to him the Story of Cain and Abel, which is drawn together with much Clofenefs and Propriety of Expreffion. That Curiofity and natural Horror which arifes in Ada?n at the Sight of the firft dying Man is touched with great beauty. But have I now feen death, is this the way I muft return to ?iative dujl ? O Sight Of t err our foul and ugly to behold, Horrid to think, how horrible to feel ! The fecond Vifion fets before him the Image of Death in a great Variety of Appearances. The Angel, to give him a General Idea of thofe Effects, which his Guilt had brought upon his Pofterity, places before him a large Hofpital, or Lazar-houfe, fill'd with Per- fons lying under all kinds of Mortal Difeafes. How finely has the Poet told us that the fick Perfons lan- guifhed under Lingring and Incurable Diftempers by an apt and Judicious ufe of fuch Imaginary Beings, as thofe I mentioned in my laft Saturday's Paper. Dire was the t offing, deep the Groans, Defpair Tended the Sick, bufie front Couch to Couch ; And over them triumphant Death his dart Shook, but delayed to fir ike, though oft invoked With vows as their chief good and final hope. The Paffion which likewife rifes in Adam on this Occafion is very natural. Sight fo deform what Heart of rock could long Dry-efd behold ? Adam could not, but wept, Thd not of Woman born; Compaffion quelld . His befl of Man, and gave him up to tears. 142 CRITICISM OF BOOK XL The Difcourfe between the Angel and Adam which follows,- abounds with noble Morals. As there is nothing more delightful in Poetry, than a Contrail and Oppofition of Incidents, the Author, after this melancholy profpect of Death and Sicknefs, raifes up a Scene of Mirth, Love and Jollity. The fecret Pleafure that fleals into Adam's Heart, as he is intent upon this Vifion, is imagined with great Deli- cacy. I mufl not omit the Defcription of the loofe Female troupe, who feduced the Sons of God as they are call'd in Scripture. For that fair female troupe thou faw'fl that feetrtd Of Goddejfes fo £ tithe, fo Smooth, fo Gay, Yet empty of all good wherein co?iffls Womans domeflick honour and chief prafe ; Bred o?ily a?id compleated to the tafle Of luflful appetence, to fing, to dance, To drefs, and troule the tongue, and roul the Eye, To ihefe that fob er race of Men, whofe lives Religious titled them the Sons of God, Shall yield up all their vertue, all their fame Ignobly, to the trai?is and to the f miles Of thofe fair Atheifls The next Vifion is of a quite contrary Nature, and filled with the Horrours of War. Ada?n, at the fight of it, melts into Tears, and breaks out in that paf- fionate Speech j Q w kat are thefe Deaths miniflers not Men, who thus deal death Inhicmanly to Men, and multiply Ten thoufandfold the Sin of hi7n who flew His Brother ; for of whom fuch Maffacre Make they but of their Brethren, men of men ? Milton, to keep up an agreeable variety in his Vifions, after having raifed in the Mind of his Reader the feveral Ideas of Terror which are conformable to the Defcription of War, paffes on to thofe fofter Images of Triumphs and Feftivals, in that Vifion of Lewdnefs and Luxury, which ufhers in the Flood. CRITICISM OF BOOK XI. 1 43 As it is vifible, that the Poet had his Eye upon Ovid's account of the univerfal Deluge, the Reader may ob- ferve with how much Judgment he has avoided every thing that is redundant or puerile in the Latin Poet. We do not here fee the Wolf fwimming among the Sheep, nor any of thofe wanton Imaginations which Seneca has found fault with, as unbecoming this great Cataftrophe of Nature. If our Poet has imitated that Verfe in which Ovid tells us, that there was nothing but Sea, and that this Sea had no Shoar to it, he has not fet the Thought in fuch a light as to incur the Cen- fure which Criticks have paffed upon it. The latter part of that Verfe in Ovid is idle and fuperfluous ; but juft and beautiful in Milton. Ja7?ique mare 6° tellus nullum dif crimen habebant, Nil nifi pontus erat, deer ant quoque littoraponto. Ovid. Sea covered Sea, Sea without Shoar Milton. In Milton the former part of the Defcription does not foreflall the latter. How much more great and folemn on this occafion is that which follows in our Englijh Poet, • And in their palaces Where luxury late reigrid. Sea Monjlers whelp* d And StabVd than that in Ovid, where we are told, that the Sea Calfs lay in thofe places where the Goats were ufed to browze ? The Reader may find feveral other Parallel Paffages in the Latin and Englijh Defcription of the Deluge, wherein our Poet has vifibly the Advantage. The Sky's being over-chajged with Clouds, the de- fcending of the Rains, the rifmg of the Seas, and the appearance of the Rainbow, are fuch Defcriptions as every one mufl take notice of. The Circumflance relating to Paradife is fo finely imagined and fui table to the Opinions of many learned Authors, that I can- not forbear giving it a place in this Paper. 144 CRITICISM OF BOOK XI. Then Jhall this mount Of Paradije by might of Waves be moved Out of 'his place, pufli } d by the horned flood, With all his verdure fpoiPd, and trees a drift Down the great river to the oftning Gulf And there take root an I/land fait and bare, The haunt of Seals and Ores, and Sea- Mews clang: The Tranfition which the Poet makes from the Virion of the Deluge, to the Concern it occafioned in Adam, is exquifitely graceful, and copied after Virgil, tho' the firft Thought it introduces is rather in the Spirit of Ovid. How didfl thou' grieve, then, Adam, to behold . The end of all thy Off-fpring, end fo fad, Depopulation ; thee another floud, Of tears and for row, a floud thee alfo drowrfd, And funk thee as thy Sons : Hill gently reared By th! Angel, on thy feet thoufloodfl at lafl, Though coi?ifortlefs, as when a father mourns His Children, all in view deflrofd at once. I have been the more particular in my Quotations out of the Eleventh Book of Paradife Lofl, becaufe it is not generally reckoned among the mofl mining .Books of this Poem. For which reafon, the Reader might be apt to overlook thofe many Paffages in it, which deferve our Admiration. The Eleventh and Twelfth are indeed built upon that fmgle Circumftance of the Removal of our firft Parents from Paradife ; but tho' this is not in it felf fo great a Subject as that in mofl of the foregoing Books, it is extended and diverfified with fo many furprizing Incidents and pleaf- ing Epifodes, that thefe two lafl Books can by no means be looked upon as unequal Parts of this divine Poem. I mufl further add, that had not Milton reprefented our firft Parents as driven out of Paradife, his Fall df Man would not have been compleat, and confequently his Action would have been imperfect;. Numb. CCCLXIX. THE SPECTATOR. Segnius irritant animos demijfa per aures Quam quce funt oculis fubj ecla fidelibus Hor. { What we hear moves lefs than what we fee. Rofcommon.} Saturday ', May, 3. 17 12. ^IZTOJV, after having reprefented in Vifion the Hiftory of Mankind to the Firft great Period of Nature, difpatches the remain- ing Part of it in Narration. He has de- vifed a very handfome Reafon for the Angel's proceeding with Adam after thh manner; tho' doubtlefs, the true Reafon was the difficulty which the Poet would have found to have N fhadowed out fo mixt and complicated a Story in vifible Objects. I could wifh, however, that the Author had done it, whatever Pains it might have cofl him. To give my Opinion freely, I think that the exhibiting Part of the Hiftory of Mankind in Vifion, and part in Narrative, is as if an Hiftory Painter mould put in Colours one half of his Subject, and write down the re- maining part of it. If Milton's Poem flags any where, it is in this Narration, where in fome places the Author has been fo attentive to his Divinity, that he has neglected his Poetry. The Narration, however, rifes very happily on feveral Occafions, where the Subject is capable of Poetical Ornaments, as particularly in the Confufion which he defcribes among the Builders of Babel, and in his fhort Sketch of the Plagues of Egypt. The Storm of Hail and Fire, with the Darknefs that over- fpread the Land for three Days, are defcribed with great Strength. The beautiful Paffage, which follows, is raifed upon noble Hints in Scripture. K 146 CRITICISM OF BOOK XII. Thus with ten wounds The River-Dragon tanid at length fubmits To let his Sojourners deport, and oft Humbles hisjlubborn heart, but Jl ill as lee More horde/Id after thaw, till in his r Purfuing wham he late difmifs\L the Sea Swallows him with his ho/1, but them lets pafs As on dry land between two Chryflal walls, Avfdbythe rod of Motes and Divided The Rh • /> \ n is an Ailufion to the Crocodile, which inhabits the Nile, from whence Egypt derives her Plenty. This Ailufion is taken from that Sublime Paflage in 2 \ith the L d God } behold, I am againfl thee Pharaoh K ^gyptj ^ /i ' x r(,( ^ that tieth in themidfl of his Rivers^ which hath , :o/i, and I hare made it for Milton has given us another very noble and ie I >efcription, which is copied almoft Word for Word out ofthe Hiflory of M AH night he will purfue y but his approach 1 ) - i . *fs 1 It ■ -. 1 till morning watch ; Then through the fiery pillar and the cloud God looking forth, will trouble all his hoafl, And craze their Chariot Wheels : wlien by command Mofes once more his potent Rod extends ■ : th S ' h ■'< 1\ d obeys ; On their Emba tolled ranks t /(turn And overwhelm their J Tar: As the Principal Defign of this Iipifode was to give Adam an Idea of the Holy Pcrfon, who was to re in- flate Human Nature in that Happinefs and Perfection from which it had fallen, the Poet confines himfelf to the Line of Abraham, from whence the Mefftah was to De- fcend. The Angel is defcribed as feeing the Patriarch actually travelling towards the Land of Promife, which gives a particular Livelinefstothis part ofthe Narration. I fee him, but thou canfl not> with what faith CRITICISM OF BOOK XII. 14-7 lie 'cares his Cods, his Friends, and [his] native Soil Ur^Chaldaea, paffingnow the Ford To Haran, after him a cumbrous /rain Of J fords and flocks, and numerous fcr-citudc ; Not wand* ring poor 9 but trufling all his wealth With God y who calVdhim, in a Land unknown. Canaan he now attains ; I fee his tents PiteKt about Se< hum, and the neighbouring plain Of Morch, there by promife fie receives Gift to f/is Progeny of all that Land ; From Hamath Northward to the Defart South ; (Things by their names 1 caff, though yet unnanfd.) As Virgirs Vifion in the sixth /Eneid prbbably gave Milton the Hint of this whole Epifode^ the laft lane is a Transition of that Verfe, where Ancfiifcs mentions the Names of Places, which they w ere to bear hereafter. Hi c turn nomina erunt, nunc funt fine nomine terror The Poet has very finely reprefented the Joy and Glad- nefs of Heart, which rifes in A dam upon li is Difcoveiy o( the Mefliah. As he fees his Day at a diflance through Types and Shadows, he rejoices in it ; but when he finds the Redemption of Man compleated,and Paradifezfpin renewed, he breaks forth in Rapture and Transport, goodnefs infinite, goodnefs inimenfe I That all this good of evil Jfiall produce. <\:c. 1 have hinted, in my Sixth Paper on Milton, that an Heroic Poem, according to the Opinion of the bed Criticks, ought to end happily, and leave the Mind of the Reader, after having conducted it through many Doubts and Fears, Sorrows and Difquietudes, in a ftate of Tranquillity and Satisfaction. Milton's, Fable, which had fo many other Qualifications to recommend it. was deficient in this Particular. It is here there- fore, that the Poet has fhewn a moft exquifite Judg- ment, as well as the fin eft Invention, by finding out a Method to fupply this Natural Defect in his Subject. Accordingly he leaves the Adverfary of Mankind, in I4S CRITICISM OF BOOK XII. the laft View which he gives us of him, under the loweft State of Mortification and Difappointment. We fee him chewing Ames, grovelling in the Duft, and loaden with Supernumerary Pains and Torments. On the contrary, our two firfl Parents are comforted by Dreams and Vifions, cheared with Promifes of Sal- vation, and, in a manner, raifed to a greater Happi- nefs than that which they had forfeited : In fhort, Satan is reprefented miferable in the height of his Triumphs, and Adam triumphant in the height of Mifery. Milton's Poem ends very nobly. The laft Speeches of Adam and the Arch-angel are full of Moral and Inftrudtive Sentiments. The Sleep that fell upon Eve, and the effects it had in quieting the Diforders of her Mind, produces the fame kind of Confolation in the Reader, who cannot perufe the laft beautiful Speech which is afcrib'd to the Mother of Mankind, without a fecret Pleafure and Satisfaction. Whence thou rctumfl, and whither wentfl, I knoiu\ For God is alfo in Sleeps and dreams advife, Which he hat Ji fent propitious, fome great good Pre/aging, fince with Sorrow a?id Hearts diflrefs J! r earied I fell afleep : but now lead on ; In me is no delay : with thee to go Is to flay here; without thee here to flay Is to go hence unwilling ; thou to me Art all things under Heaven, all places thou Who for my wilful crime art banifltid hence. This further Confolation yet fecure I carry hence \ though all by me is lofl Such favour, I unworthy, am vouchfafd, By me the promifl d SeedfJiall all reflore. The following Lines wjiich conclude the Poem rife in a moft glorious blaze of Poetical Images and Expreffions. Heliodorus in his j&thiopicks acquaints us that the Motion of the Gods differs from that of Mortals, as the former do not ftir their Feet, nor proceed Step by Step, but Hide o'er the Surface of the Earth by an CRITICISM OF EOOK XII. I49 uniform Swimming of the whole Body. The Reader may obferve with how Poetical a Defcription Milton has attributed the fame kind of Motion to the Angels who were to take Poffeffion of Paradije. So /pake our Mother Eve, and Adam heard Well pleas 'd, but anfwer'd not ; for now too nigh Tti Arch-angel flood, a7idfrom the other hill To their fix' dftation, all in bright array The Cherubim defended; on the ground Gliding meteorous, as evning mifl Pis 1 n from a River, o'er the mar ifJi glides. And gathers ground f of at the laborers heel Homeivard returning. High in Front advanced, The brandiftid Sword of God before them blaz'd Fierce as a Comet The Author helped his Invention in the following Paffage, by reflecting on the Behaviour of the Angel, who, in Holy Writ, has the Conduct of Lot and his Family. The Circumftances drawn from that Relation are very gracefully made ufe of on this Occafion. In either hand the haflning Angel caught Our lingering Parents, and to the Eaflem gate Led them direel ; and down the Cliff as fafl To the fubjecled plai?i ; then d if appeared. They looking back &c, ■ — The Profpecl [Scene] which our firft Parents are fur- prifed with upon their looking back on Pa?-adife, wonder- fully ftrikes the Reader's Imagination, as nothing can be more natural than the Tears theyfhedon that Occafion. They looking back, all tft Eaflem fide beheld Of Paradife, fo late their happy Seat, IVav'd over by that flaming brand, the gate With dreadful faces throng d and fiery Arms : Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them f 0011; The world was all before them, where to chufe Their, place of reft, and providence their Guide : If I might prefume to offer at the fmalleft Alteration ISO CRITICISM OF BOOK XII. in this Divine Work, I fhould think the Poem would end better with the Paffage here quoted, than with the two Verfes which follow. They hand i?i hand with wandering Jleps and flow \ Through Eden took their fo lit ary way. Thefe two Verfes, though they have their Beauty, fall very much below the foregoing Paffage, and renew in the Mind of the Reader that Anguifh which was pretty well laid by that Consideration, The World was all before the?n, where to chufe Their place of reft, and providence their Guide. The number of Books in Paradife Loft is equal to thofe of the ^neid. Our Author in his Firft Edition had divided his Poem into ten Books, but afterwards broke the Seventh and the Eleventh each of them into two different Books, by the help of fome fmall Addi- tions. This fecond Divifion was made with great Judgment, as any one may fee who will be at the pains of examining it. It was not done for the fake of fuch a Chimerical Beauty as that of refembling Virgil in this particular, but for the more jufl and regular Difpofition of this great Work. Thofe who have read Boffu, and many of the Criticks who have written fmce his time, will not pardon me if I do not find out the particular Moral which is inculcated in Paradife Loft. Tho' I can by no means think with the lafl-mentioned French Author, that an Epic Writer firft of all pitches upon a certain Moral, as the Ground-work and Foundation of his Poem, and afterwards finds out a Story to it : I am, however, of Opinion, that no jufl Heroic Poem ever was, or can be made, from whence one great Moral may not be deduced. That which reigns in Milton is the moil univerfal and mod ufeful that can be imagined : it is in fhort this, that Obedience to the Will of God makes Men happy, and that Difobedience makes them 77iiferable. This is vifibly the Moral of the prin- cipal Fable which turns upon Adam and Eve, who THE MORAL OF 'PARADISE LOST.* I5I continued in Paradife while they kept the Command that was given them, and were driven out of it as foon as they had tranfgreffed. This is likewife the Moral of the principal Epifode, which fhews us how an innu- merable multitude of Angels fell from their State of Blifs, and were cafl into Hell upon their Difobedience. Befides this great Moral, which may be looked upon as the Soul of the Fable, there are an infinity of Under- Morals which are to be drawn from the feveral parts of the Poem, and which make this Work more ufeful and inftru6tive than any other Poem in any Language. Thofe who have criticifed on the Odyjfey, the Iliad, and ALneid, have taken a great deal of pains to fix the number of Months or Days contain'd in the Action of each of thofe Poems. If any one thinks it worth his while to examine this Particular in Milton, he will find that from Adam's firft Appearance in the Fourth Book, to his Expulfion from Paradife in the Twelfth, the Author reckons ten Days. As for that part of the Action which is defcribed in the three firft Books, as it does not pafs within the Regions of Nature, I have before obferv'd that it is not fubje6l to any Calculations of Time. I have now finifh'd my Obfervations on a Work which does an Honour to the Englijli Nation. I have taken a general View of it under thofe four Heads, the Fable, the Characters, the Sentiments and the Lan- guage, and made each of them the Subject of a par- ticular Paper. I have in the next place fpoken of the Cenfures which our Author may incur under each of thefe Heads, which I have confined to two Papers, tho' I might have enlarged the number, if I had been difpofed to dwell on fo ungrateful a Subje6l. I be- lieve, however, that the feverefl Reader will not find any little fault in Heroic Poetry, which this Author has fallen into, that does not come under one of thofe Heads among which I have diftributed his feveral Blemifhes. After having thus treated at large of Paradife Loft, I could not think it fufficient to have celebrated this Poem in the whole, without defend- ing to Particulars. I have therefore beftowed a 152 CONCLUSION. Paper upon each Book, and endeavoured not only to fhew [prove] that the Poem is beautiful in general, but to point out its particular Beauties, and to determine wherein they confifl. I have endeavoured to fhew how fome Paffages are beautiful by being Sublime, others by being Soft, others by being Natural ; which of them are recommended by the Pafllon, which by the Moral, which by the Sentiment, and which by the Expreflion. I have [likewife] endeavoured to Ihew how the Genius of the Poet mines by a happy Inven- tion, a diflant Allufion, or a judicious Imitation ; how he has copied or improved Homer or Virgil, and raifed his own Imaginations by the ufe which he has made of feveral Poetical Paffages in Scripture. I might have in- ferted [alfo] feveral Paffages of Taffo, which our Author has likewife* imitated; but as I do not look upon Taffo to be a fufficient Voucher, I would not perplex my Reader with fuch Quotations, as might do more Honour to the Italian than the Englijh Poet. 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Here begynnyth a marvelous revelacion that was schewyd of almighty god by sent Nyeholas to a monke of Euyshamme yn the days of Kynge Richard the fyrst. And the yere of our lord. M.C.Lxxxxvi. [From the unique copy, printed about 14S2, in the British MuseumJ. One Shilling-, 19. JAMES VI. of Scotland, I of England. (1) THE ESS A YES OF A PRENTISE, IN THE DIVINE ART OF POESIE. Edinburgh 1585. (2) A COUNTER BLASTE TO TOBACCO. Lon- don. 1604. One Shilling. 20. SIR ROBERT NAUNTON, Master of the Court of Wards. ERA OMENTA REGALIA: or, Observations on the late Queen Elizabeth, her Times, and Favourites. [Third Edition. London] 1653. Sixpence. 21. THOMAS WATSON, Student at law. j(i) THE ~EKCLT0fjLTra6ia or Passionate Centurie of Loue. Divided into two parts : whereof the first expresseth the Authors sufferance in loue : the latter, his long farewell to Loue and all his tyrannic. Composed by Thomas Watson Gentleman ; and published at the request of certaine Gentlemen his very frendes. London [1582.] Pnttenham. 2/6 Vol. VIII. Howell, Udall, Monk of Evesham JamesVL 3/6 volix. Naunton, "Watson. 2/6 io ENGLISH Quarto. - REPRINTS— FOOLSCAP. TITLES, PRICES, etc., etc. iDrtaba. 26 6/6 Stiff Covers t Edges. (2) MELIBCEUS T. Watsoni, Ecloga in obitum F. Walsinghami, <\:c. Londini, i 5 (3) AN EGLOGUE, &c, Written first in latino [the above Melibceus] by Thomas Watson Gentleman and now by himselfe translated into English. London 1590. (4) THE TEARS OF FANCY, or Loue disdained. [From the unique copy, wanting Sonnets ix.-xvi., in the don of S. Christie-Miller, Esq.] London, 1593. Eighteen Pence. 22. WILLIAM HABINGTON. CASTARA, The third Edition. Corrected and aug- mented. London. 1640. With the variations of the two One Shilling. 4/ I I 1' 1 i ' * ' l. UUI1UUII <£/0 pre\ io is editions. 23. ROGER ASCHAM. THE SCHOLEM ASTER, Or plaineand perfite way hyng children, to vnderstand, write, and s] 1 ' . daily purposed for the priuate brynging vp of youth in lentlemen and Noble mens ! . f>r all such, as haue forgot the Latin I and would, by themselues, without a Schol . . 1 short tyme, and with small paines, re- rnucr a sufficient habilitie, to vnderstand, write, and speake Latin. 1 . 1570. One Shilling. 24. Tottol's Miscellany. VGES AND SONETTES, written by the ryght 1 Henry Haward, late Erie of SuiTey, h t. [London, 5 June] 1 Half-a-crown. 4/ 2/6 25. REV. THOMAS LEVER, M.A. : after- •, Cambridge. SERMONS. (I) A fruitfull Sermon made in Paules churche at London in the Shroudes, the second of Februari. 1550. (2) A S died the thyrd [or fourth] Sunday in Lent before the Kynges Maiestie, and his honourable counsel 1. 1550. (3) A Sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, the xiiii. day of December 1550. Eighteen Pence. 23. WILLIAM WEBBE, Graduate. A DISCOURSE OF KXGUSII POETRIE. To- gether, with the Anthorsiudgment, touching the reforma- tion of our English Verse. London. 1586. One Shilling. Green Cloth, Red Ed^es. .'. The following works are designed for publication in time to come. TJicir prices cannot be fixed with precision, but are ap proximately given. Ferrex and Porrex has been postponed; ana ENGLISH REPR] NTS— FOOLSCAP. ii Newesfromthe North by F. T. : I Thynne], with Richard BARNFIl not been inserted; some of the Text bring accessible, at the present tunc. J. HOWELL'S Epistolae Ho- Elianae will be put to press as soon as No. 27 Bacon's Essayes, &c, is finished* sac 27- FRANCIS BACON. nioiiy of the ESSA YES, &c, The four principle texts appearing in parr, 1 ]'! columns. ; (1) i Religious Meditations. Places of per- swasion and di ssw a . 1. I . \ m \ ml St, A Written. 1626. (58 Essays.) Three Shillii . .<4v*. Vol. XIII. Bacon. 36 28. WILLIAM ROY, m Friar. (1) REDEMEANDBE NOTT WROTHE* ' burg. 1527. This is his famous Satireon W A PROPER DYALOGE BETH GENTLEMAN A XI) A HUSBANDMAN, [Attributed to Roy Marburg. 1530. Eighteen Pence. 29. SIR W. RALEIGH-G. MARKHAM.| THE LAST FIGHT OF THE REVENGE AT SI] A. (I) A report of the Truth of the ut the Isles ofAcores, this last Sommer. Betwixt the Reuenge, one of her Maiesties Shippes, and an Armada of the King tine. By Sir Walter Raleigh. London, 15 , (2) The most Honorable Tragedie of Sir Richarde Grinuille, Knight (. \) Bramo assai, fn , nulla [By GERVASE MARKHAM] London, i- 5. [Two copies only are known, Mr. Grenville's cost/. 40. j One Shilling. Vol. XIV. Roy, bt in the Re- venge. Googe. 4/ 30. BARNABE GOOGE. EGLOGS, EPYTAPHESAND SOXETTES newly written by Barnaue Googe. London 1563. 15 March. One Shilling. 31. REV. PHILLIP STUBBES. (i) THE AXATOMIE OF ABUSES: conteyning a discoverie or briefe Summarie of Such Notable Vices and Imperfections, as now raigne in many Christian 12 4Et'tart0. Large Paper ENGLISH REPRINTS— FOOLSCAP. dBctabo TITLES, PRICES, etc., etc. Stiff Covers. Uncut Edges. Countreyes of the World : but especialie in a very famous ILANDE called AILGNA [i.e. Anglia] : Together with most fearefull Examples of Gods Iudgementes, executed vpon the wicked for the same, aswell in AILGNA of late, as in other places, elsewhere. . . London. I Maij. 1583. (2) The Second part of THE ANATOM1E OF ABUSES. . . . London. 1583. Half-a-crown. 32. THOMAS TUSSER. FIVE HUNDRED POINTES OF GOOD HUS- BANDRIES as well for the Champion, or open Countrie, as also for the woodland, or Seuerall, mixed in euery Month with HUSWIFERIE, .... with diuers other lessons, as a diet for the former, of the properties of windes, plantes, hops, herbes, bees and approued re- medies for sheepe and cattle, with many other matters both profitable and not vnpleasant for the Reader . . London. 1580. Eighteen Pence. 33. JOHN MILTON. (1) The Life of Mr John Milton [by his nephew Edward Phillips]. From ' letters of State written by Mr. John Milton, bet. 1649-59.' London. 1694. (2) THE REASON OF CHURCH GOV ERNE- ME NT urg'd against Prelacy. By Mr. John Milton, In two Books. [London] 1641. (3) Milton's Letter OF EDUCATION To Master Samuel Hartlib. [London. 5 June 1644.] One Shilling 34. FRANCIS QUARLES. ENCH\ RIDION, containing fT ^.. \ Contemplative. I Div 1 "* Insti- tuti- / ons j Morall Practicall. Ethycall. Oeconomicall. Politically London. 1 640-1. One Shilling. 35, The Sixth English Poetical Miscellany. THE PHOENIX NEST. Built vp with the most rare and refined workes of Noble men, woorthy Knights, gallant Gentlemen, Masters of Arts, and braue Schoolers. Full of varietie, excellent inuention, and singular delight. Never before this time published. Set forth by R. S. of the Inner Temple Gentleman. London 1593. One Shilling. 36. SIR THOMAS ELYOT. THE GOVERNOR. The boke named the Gouernor, deuised by ye Thomas Elyot Knight. Londini M. D. xxxi. Collated with subsequent editions. Half-a-crown. Green Cloth, Red Edges. Vol. Stubbes. 3/ Vol. Tusser, Milton. 3/ Vol. Quarles. The Fhcs- nix Nest. 2/6 Vol. Elyot. 3/ ri ENGLISH REPRINTS. 13 23em» Cumrto. Will be ready, about March 187 1, iin one Volume, \2s. 6d. 801. RICHARD EDEN. I. A treatyse OF THE NEWE INDIA, WITH OTHER NEW FOUND E L ANDES AND IS- LANDS, AS WELL EASTWARDE AS WEST WARDE, as they are knowen and found in these oure dayes, after the descripcion of Sebastian Munster, in his boke of vniuersall Cosmographie, &c [London, 1553.] II. The First English Collection of Voyages, Traffics, and Discoveries.— THE DECADES OF THE NEW WORLD OR WEST INDIA, &*c. &>c. [by Peter Martyr of Angleria.] [Translated, compiled, &c. by Richard Eden.] Londini, Anno 1555. 1. The [Dedicatory] Epistle [to King Philip and Queen Mary.] 2. Richard Eden to the Reader. 3. The [1st, 2nd, and 3d only of the 8] Decades of the newe worlde or west India, Conteynyngthenauigations andconquestes of the Spanyardes, with the particular description of the moste ryche and large lands and Ilandes lately found e in the west Ocean perteynyng to the inheritance of the kinges of Spay ne. In the which the diligent reader may not only consyder what commoditie may hereby chaunce to the hole christian world in tyme to come, but also learne many secreates touchynge the lande, the sea, and the starres, very necessarie to be knowen to al such as shal attempte any nauigations, or otherwise haue delite to beholde the strange and woonderful woorkes of god and nature. Wrytten in the Latine tounge by. Peter Martyr of Angleria, and translated into Englysshe by Rycharde Eden. 4. The Bull of Pope Alexander VI. in 1493, granting to the Spaniards 'the Regions and Ilandes founde in the Weste Ocean' by them. 5. The Historie of the West Indies by Gox^alo Fernandez Oviedo y Valdes. 6. Of other notable things gathered out of dyuers autors. 7. Of Moscouie and Cathay. 8. Other notable thynges as touchynge the Indies [chiefly out of the books of Francisco Lopez de Gomara, ' and partly also out of the caade made by Sebastian Cabot.'] 9. The Booke of Metals. 10. The description of the two viages made owt of England into Guinea in Affricke [1553, 1554]. 11. The maner of fyndynge the Longitude of regions. Index. . \ An abridged analysis of this voluminous work was issued in the previous catalogue (1 Dec. 1869); which will be found bound up with * English Reprints' issued during this year, 1870. i 4 ENGLISH REPRINTS. Imperial JToIicu 1001. PETRU00IO UBALDINI— AUGUSTINE RYTHER. A Discourse concerning the Spanishe fleete inuadinge Englande in the yeare 1588 and ouerthrowne by her Maies- ties Nauie vnder the conduction of the Right-honorable the Lorde Charles Howarde highe Admirall of Englande : written in Italian by Petruccio Vbaldini citizen of Flor- ence, and translated for A. Ryther : vnto the which discourse are annexed certain tables expressinge the generall exploites, and conflictes had with the said fleete. These bookes with the tables belonginge to them are to be solde at the shoppe of A. Ryther, being a little from Leaden hall next to the Signe of the Tower. [1590.] The twelve Tables express the following subjects : — Frontispiece. I. The Spanish Armada coming into the Channel, opposite the Lizard; as it was first discovered. II. The Spanish Armada against Fowey, drawn up in the Form of a Half Moon ; The English Fleet pursuing. III. The First Engagement between the two Fleets. After which the English give chase to the Spaniards, who draw their ships into a ball. IV. De Valdez's Galleon springs her Foremast, and is taken by Sir Francis Drake. The Lord Admiral with the 'Bear' and the ' Mary Rose,' pursue the enemy, who sail in the form of a Half Moon. V. The Admiral's ship of the Guipuscoan Squadron having caught Fire, is taken by the English. The Armada con- tinues ITS COURSE, IN A HALF MOON ; UNTIL OFF THE ISLE OF Portland, where ensues the Second Engagement. VI. Some English ships attack the Spaniards to the West- ward. The Armada again drawing into a Ball, keeps on its course followed by the english. VII. The Third and the sharpest Fight between the two Fleets : off the Isle of Wight. VIII. The Armada sailing up Channel towards Calais ; the English Fleet following close. IX. The Spaniards at anchor off Calais. The Fireships APPROACHING. THE ENGLISH PREPARING TO PURSUE. X. The final battle. The Armada flying to the north- ward. The chief Galleass stranded near Calais. Large Map showing the Track of the Armada round the british isles. These plates, which are a most valuable and early representation of the Spanish Invasion, are being re-engraved in facsimile, and will be issued in the Spring of 1871, at the lowest feasible price : probably Half-a-Guinea. .*. Other works may follow. Annotated Reprints. 15 By various Editors : under Mr. Arber's general supervision. Some Texts require the amplest elucidation aud illustration by Masters in special departments of knowledge. To recover and perpetuate such Works is to render the greatest service to Learning. With the aid of Scholars in special S7(b- j'ects, I hope to endow our readers with some knowledge of the Past, that is jiow quite o?et of their reach. While the Editors will be respoiisible both for Text and Illus- trations ; the 'works will be prodicced under my general oversight : so that tlie Anno- tated Reprints, tlioiigh of much sloiver growth, will more than equal in value tloe English Reprints. E. A. In the Spring of 1871 : in Fcp. 8vo the First Volume (to be completed in Four) of Cf;e ^a£ton Setters. 1422-1509. Edited by JAMES GAIRDNER, Esq., of the Public Record Office. EVERY one knows what a blank is the history of England during the Wars of of the two Roses. Amid the civil commotions, literature almost died out. The principal poetry of the period is that of Lydgate, the Monk of Bury. The prose is still more scanty. The monastic Chronicles are far less numerous than at earlier periods : and by the end of the Fifteenth Century they seem to have entirely ceased. Thus it has come to pass that less is known of this age than of any other in our history. In this general dearth of information recent historians like Lingard, Turner, Pauli, and Knight, who have treated of the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., &c, have found in The Paston Letters not only unrivalled illustration of the Social Life of England, but also most important information, at first hand, as to the Political Events of that time. So that the printed Correspondence is cited page after page in their several histories of this period. The Paston Letters have not however been half published. No literary use was made of them while accumulatingin the family muniment room. William, 2nd Earl of Yar- mouth, the last member of the family, having encumbered his inheritance, parted with all his property. The family letters came about 1728 into the hands of the dis- tinguished antiquary, Peter le Neve ; afterwards, by his marriage to Le Neve's widow, to his brother antiquary Martin of Palgrave ; on his death again, to a Mr. Worth, from whom they were acquired by Mr. afterwards Sir John Fenn. In 1787, Fenn published a small selection of the Letters in two volumes 4to ; of which the first edition having been sold off in a week, a second appeared in the course of the year. He then prepared a further selection, of which two volumes appeared in 1789 ; the fifth volume being published after his death, in 1823. Strangely enough, the Original Letters disappeared soon after their publication : and only those of the Fifth volume have, as yet, been recovered. There is no reason- able doubt that they still exist and will some dav be found. There is no necessity, however, to postpone a new edition indefinitely, until they are again brought to light: for a comparison of the Fifth volume with its originals establishes Sir John Fenn's general faithfulness as to the Text ; and therefore our present possession, in his Edition, of the contents of the missing Manuscripts. Three hundred and eighty-seven letters in all were published by Fenn : about Four hundred additional letters or documents, belonging to the same collection and which have never been published at all, will be included in the present edition. Not only will the Text be doubled in quantity ; but in its elucidation, it will have the benefit of Mr. Gairdner's concentrated study of this Correspondence for years past. Half his difficulty will be in the unravelling of the chronology of the Letters, partly from internal evidence, partly from the Public Records, and other sources. Fenn's chronology — for no fault of his — is excessively misleading. This was inevita- ble, from the difficulties of a first attempt, the state of historic criticism in his day, and the limited means then available for consulting the public records, &c. It is hoped, however, by restoring each Letter to its certain or approximate date, vastly to increase the interest of this Correspondence. In addition textual difficulties will be removed, and valuable biographical information afforded. The Letters of the reign of Henry VI. will form Vol. 1. (estimated at about 600 I //.) : those of Edward IV"., Vols. 11. and 111. (together about 800 pp.) ; and those of Richard III. and Henry VII., Vol. iv. (about 300 pp.). The price will be about one shilling for every 100 pp. ; and the work, it is expected, will be completed in Two years. FOR GENERAL READERS.Ul V The undermentioned modernized texts are in preparation. Great care will be bestowed in their transformation into the spelling and punctuation of the present day : but the Originals will be adhered to as closely as possible. Lei s 7 ire Readings in English L it c rat ure. The object of the volumes that will appear under this general title, will be to afford Restful Reading ; and, at the same time, by exhibiting the wealth of thought and the wit in expression of our Old Authors ; to predispose to a further study of our Literature : in which study these Readings will serve as First Books. They will contain many excellent Poems and Passages that arc generally but very little known. Choice Books. THE DISASTROUS ENGLISH VOYAGE TO THE WEST INDIES IN 1568. Recounted in the Narratives of Sir JOHN HAW- KINS : and of David Ingram, Miles Phillips, and JOB HORTOP, survivors, who escaped through the American Indian tribes; or out of the clutches of the Inquisition; or from the galleys of the King of Spain and so at length came home to England. .*. Other works to follow. These works will be issued, beautifully printed and elegantly bound, **» in Crown 8vo. -^ The above is a specimen of the type, but not of the size of page. 5 QUEEN SQUAEE, BLOOMSBUEY, LONDON, W.O. u I